South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society

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The South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society (SPUMS) is a primary source of information for diving and hyperbaric medicine physiology worldwide.

Contents

History

The SPUMS was founded on May 3, 1971 in the wardroom of HMAS Penguin. [1] The founding members of SPUMS were Carl Edmonds, Bob Thomas, Douglas Walker, Ian Unsworth, and Cedric Deal and they were joined by approximately 20 others as "charter members". [1] The society was incorporated in 1990. [1]

Purpose

The aims of SPUMS have never changed since its inception: [1] [2]

Training

SPUMS offers a Diploma of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. This certification, was the first non-naval certification and for years the only postgraduate education available. [1] The first Diplomas by examination were awarded to Chris Acott, Gavin Dawson, and John Knight in 1975. [1]

Publications

In 1971, a newsletter was published by Dr. Carl Edmonds and distributed to diving medical professionals. [3] This newsletter grew to become the Journal of the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society in 1975. [3] The journal's name was changed to Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine in 2007 and incorporated the Journal of the European Underwater and Baromedical Society in 2008.

SPUMS also publishes many policies to assist clinicians and diving professionals. [4]

Many of the SPUMS publications were available online at the Rubicon Research Repository.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decompression sickness</span> Disorder caused by dissolved gases forming bubbles in tissues

Decompression sickness is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompression. DCS most commonly occurs during or soon after a decompression ascent from underwater diving, but can also result from other causes of depressurisation, such as emerging from a caisson, decompression from saturation, flying in an unpressurised aircraft at high altitude, and extravehicular activity from spacecraft. DCS and arterial gas embolism are collectively referred to as decompression illness.

Salt water aspiration syndrome is a rare diving disorder suffered by scuba divers who inhale a mist of seawater, usually from a faulty demand valve, causing irritation of the lungs. It is not the same thing as aspiration of salt water as a bulk liquid, i.e. drowning. It can usually be treated by rest for several hours. If severe, medical assessment is required. First described by Carl Edmonds.

In-water recompression (IWR) or underwater oxygen treatment is the emergency treatment of decompression sickness (DCS) by returning the diver underwater to help the gas bubbles in the tissues, which are causing the symptoms, to resolve. It is a procedure that exposes the diver to significant risk which should be compared with the risk associated with the available options and balanced against the probable benefits. Some authorities recommend that it is only to be used when the time to travel to the nearest recompression chamber is too long to save the victim's life; others take a more pragmatic approach and accept that in some circumstances IWR is the best available option. The risks may not be justified for case of mild symptoms likely to resolve spontaneously, or for cases where the diver is likely to be unsafe in the water, but in-water recompression may be justified in cases where severe outcomes are likely if not recompressed, if conducted by a competent and suitably equipped team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diving medicine</span> Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders caused by underwater diving

Diving medicine, also called undersea and hyperbaric medicine (UHB), is the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of conditions caused by humans entering the undersea environment. It includes the effects on the body of pressure on gases, the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by marine hazards and how relationships of a diver's fitness to dive affect a diver's safety. Diving medical practitioners are also expected to be competent in the examination of divers and potential divers to determine fitness to dive.

Taravana is a disease often found among Polynesian island natives who habitually dive deep without breathing apparatus many times in close succession, usually for food or pearls. These free-divers may make 40 to 60 dives a day, each of 30 or 40 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Siebe</span> German-born British engineer mostly known for his contributions to diving equipment

Christian Augustus Siebe was a German-born British engineer chiefly known for his contributions to diving equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannes Keller</span> Swiss mathematician, physicist and diver (1934–2022)

Hannes Keller was a Swiss physicist, mathematician, deep diving pioneer, and entrepreneur. In 1962, he reached a depth of 1,000 feet (300 m) in open ocean. In the 1970s through the 1980s, Keller made himself a name as an entrepreneur in the IT industry. Keller was also an amateur classical pianist who produced two CDs and occasionally performed for audiences of up to 2000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underwater diving</span> Descending below the surface of the water to interact with the environment

Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) is an organization based in the US which supports research on matters of hyperbaric medicine and physiology, and provides a certificate of added qualification for physicians with an unrestricted license to practice medicine and for limited licensed practitioners, at the completion of the Program for Advanced Training in Hyperbaric Medicine. They support an extensive library and are a primary source of information for diving and hyperbaric medicine physiology worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ear clearing</span> Equalising of pressure in the middle ears

Ear clearing or clearing the ears or equalization is any of various maneuvers to equalize the pressure in the middle ear with the outside pressure, by letting air enter along the Eustachian tubes, as this does not always happen automatically when the pressure in the middle ear is lower than the outside pressure. This need can arise in scuba diving, freediving/spearfishing, skydiving, fast descent in an aircraft, fast descent in a mine cage, and being put into pressure in a caisson or similar internally pressurised enclosure, or sometimes even simply travelling at fast speeds in an automobile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert R. Behnke</span> US Navy physician and diving medicine researcher

Captain Albert Richard Behnke Jr. USN (ret.) was an American physician, who was principally responsible for developing the U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute. Behnke separated the symptoms of Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE) from those of decompression sickness and suggested the use of oxygen in recompression therapy.

Albert Alois Bühlmann was a Swiss physician who was principally responsible for a number of important contributions to decompression science at the Laboratory of Hyperbaric Physiology at the University Hospital in Zürich, Switzerland. His impact on diving ranged from complex commercial and military diving to the occasional recreational diver. He is held in high regard for his professional ethics and attention to his research subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Wesley Shilling</span> U.S. Navy physician, researcher, and educator

Captain Charles Wesley Shilling was an American physician who was known as a leader in the field of undersea and hyperbaric medicine, research, and education. Shilling was widely recognized as an expert on deep sea diving, naval medicine, radiation biology, and submarine capabilities. In 1939, he was Senior Medical Officer in the rescue of the submarine U.S.S. Squalus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Mitchell</span> New Zealand physician and author on diving medicine

Simon Mitchell is a New Zealand physician specialising in occupational medicine, hyperbaric medicine and anesthesiology. Trained in medicine, Mitchell was awarded a PhD for his work on neuroprotection from embolic brain injury. Mitchell has also published more than 45 research and review papers in the medical literature. Mitchell is an author and avid technical diver. He also wrote two chapters of the latest edition of Bennett and Elliott's Physiology and Medicine of Diving, is the co-author of the diving textbook Deeper Into Diving with John Lippmann and co-authored the chapter on Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine in Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine with Michael Bennett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decompression (diving)</span> Pressure reduction and its effects during ascent from depth

The decompression of a diver is the reduction in ambient pressure experienced during ascent from depth. It is also the process of elimination of dissolved inert gases from the diver's body which accumulate during ascent, largely during pauses in the ascent known as decompression stops, and after surfacing, until the gas concentrations reach equilibrium. Divers breathing gas at ambient pressure need to ascend at a rate determined by their exposure to pressure and the breathing gas in use. A diver who only breathes gas at atmospheric pressure when free-diving or snorkelling will not usually need to decompress, Divers using an atmospheric diving suit do not need to decompress as they are never exposed to high ambient pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YMCA SCUBA Program</span> Defunct recreational diver training and certification agency.

YMCA SCUBA Program was an underwater diving training program operated by YMCA of the USA from 1959 to 2008. It was the first nationally organised underwater diving instruction program offered in the United States of America. A program with a similar content is now delivered by Scuba Educators International, an organisation founded by a group of former senior YMCA SCUBA instructors in 2008.

The European Underwater and Baromedical Society (EUBS) is a primary source of information for diving and hyperbaric medicine physiology worldwide. The organization was initially formed as the European Underwater and Biomedical Society in 1971 and was an affiliate of the Undersea Medical Society for several years. Its purpose is promoting the advancement of diving and hyperbaric medicine and the education of those involved in the field; EUBS provides a forum and a journal for exchange of information and promotes research into diving medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperbaric treatment schedules</span> Planned hyperbaric exposure using a specified breathing gas as medical treatment

Hyperbaric treatment schedules or hyperbaric treatment tables, are planned sequences of events in chronological order for hyperbaric pressure exposures specifying the pressure profile over time and the breathing gas to be used during specified periods, for medical treatment. Hyperbaric therapy is based on exposure to pressures greater than normal atmospheric pressure, and in many cases the use of breathing gases with oxygen content greater than that of air.

Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine is a journal about hyperbaric medicine published by the European Underwater Medicine Society (EUBS) and the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society (SPUMS).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knight, John (1996). "Twenty five years of SPUMS 1971-1996". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 26 (2). ISSN   0813-1988. OCLC   16986801.
  2. South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society. "South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Home Page" . Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  3. 1 2 Knight, John (2001). "The history and development of the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 31 (4). ISSN   0813-1988. OCLC   16986801.
  4. South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society. "South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Policy". Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-15.