Diving Medical Panel
The SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel reviews cases where a decision of medical fitness requires a second opinion or the input of specialist or experts in a specific field. This service can only be provided under the supervision of a qualified diving medical examiner (i.e. a non-medical individual cannot approach the panel directly). There is no costs associated with this service provided by SAUHMA. A specialist report is provided to the Medical Examiner of the Diver, who would then discuss the recommendations of the panel with the diver.
Medical Examiners of Divers who want to refer a case to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel, may (if they so wish) have a preliminary discussion with the panel convenors (divingpanel@sauhma.org), to discuss the merits of submitting a case. Cases that are "straight-forward" (clearly unfit or clearly fit) may receive a specialist report from the convenor without involving the rest of the panel. However, complex cases would warrant a full panel review.
For a full review, the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel procedures should be discussed with the diver, and they should be provided with a copy of the Panel Information Leaflet (available here). If the diver consents to these procedures, and to provide information that would foreseeably be required, the referring medical examiner should request the diver to carefully read through, and sign the written Panel Informed Consent Document (available here).
The referring medical examiner of the diver should then submit to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel the full clinical details regarding the case (information regarding the diver), as well as the specific environment for which the fitness is being evaluated (information regarding his job). Letters from the employer may be relevant in certain cases. If specialist reports are available, these should be included. If specialist reports are not available, the medical examiner should anticipate which reports are likely to be requested and obtain those reports before referring the case. All this information should be summarised in the Submission Request Document (available here), and submitted with all the relevant attachments. We provide a Checklist for practitioners to confirm that they have included all the relevant documentation (available here). All the information should be submitted to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel convenors by email (divingpanel@sauhma.org).
Medical Examiners of Divers who want to refer a case to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel, may (if they so wish) have a preliminary discussion with the panel convenors (divingpanel@sauhma.org), to discuss the merits of submitting a case. Cases that are "straight-forward" (clearly unfit or clearly fit) may receive a specialist report from the convenor without involving the rest of the panel. However, complex cases would warrant a full panel review.
For a full review, the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel procedures should be discussed with the diver, and they should be provided with a copy of the Panel Information Leaflet (available here). If the diver consents to these procedures, and to provide information that would foreseeably be required, the referring medical examiner should request the diver to carefully read through, and sign the written Panel Informed Consent Document (available here).
The referring medical examiner of the diver should then submit to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel the full clinical details regarding the case (information regarding the diver), as well as the specific environment for which the fitness is being evaluated (information regarding his job). Letters from the employer may be relevant in certain cases. If specialist reports are available, these should be included. If specialist reports are not available, the medical examiner should anticipate which reports are likely to be requested and obtain those reports before referring the case. All this information should be summarised in the Submission Request Document (available here), and submitted with all the relevant attachments. We provide a Checklist for practitioners to confirm that they have included all the relevant documentation (available here). All the information should be submitted to the SAUHMA Diving Medical Panel convenors by email (divingpanel@sauhma.org).