UHMS Pacific Chapter Town Hall on Safety 2025

Course overview

The Pacific Chapter of the UHMS continuing education mission is to promote educational activities for physicians and allied health professionals in the local and regional areas. These activities are based on a needs assessment of the members and on the recommendations of the UHMS Panel of Expert Opinion. These activities will improve the scientific and practical knowledge in the areas of hyperbaric oxygen treatment and diving medicine. Specific lecture objectives: What do you do if you have to abort a patient's treatment and the Inside Attendant has a decompression obligation? We will discuss the possible scenarios and best practices to help mitigate decompression sickness risk to your Inside Attendant while providing the best care to your patients. Using the common rules in the US Navy Dive Manual, Gray has developed an easy to use flowchart to manage omitted decompression for your Inside Attendants in the extremely unlikely event they must omit decompression to save a patient's life. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy HBO2 is well-defined by the UHMS in the 15th edition of the Hyperbaric Medicine Indications Manual. Despite this, there are other entities to purport HBO2 even though they do not meet definition of HBO2. Often called mild hyperbarics or soft chamber hyperbarics, these proprietors promote the benefits of HBO2 despite not adhering to UHMS safety standards. There are also facilities that use clinical HBO2 for off-label indications that have little to no support. This session looks at the state of our field in the Pacific Chapter and discusses the way forward. Learners will be able to fully understand the status of hyperbaric medicine in their communities and will gain knowledge on how to better educate the population on true HBO2. A brief overview of accreditation with a focus on tips and lessons learned from facilities that have been accredited as well as members of the accreditation team to help YOU consider getting accredited at your facility. Understand how to find information about accreditation and prepare at your facility Understand the levels of accreditation and periodicity of renewal Describe the different categories of accreditation requirements Review top tips to prepare for accreditation This lecture will delve into the critical work undertaken by the Committee to enhance safety standards within hyperbaric medicine. We will explore recent projects that have significantly improved safety protocols and practices, highlighting key achievements and lessons learned. Additionally, the presentation will outline future initiatives aimed at further advancing safety measures, ensuring the well-being of both patients and healthcare professionals in hyperbaric environments. This session is essential for anyone involved in hyperbaric therapy, from practitioners to administrators, offering valuable insights and practical guidance for maintaining the highest safety standards. Subject Matter: Introduction/CE Requirements Normalization of Deviance in a Safety Culture Inside Attendant Omitted Decompression in Hyperbaric Treatments Field of Safety in HBO2- Soft Chamber to Off-Label and their Effects on our Field, Presentation and Panel UHMS Accreditation, from A to Z Presentation and Panel Safety in Diving from the USMC, to Commercial and Recreational Diving, to Hyperbarics UHMS Safety Committee- Keeping our Field Safe Behind the Scenes Teaching Methods: Didactic lectures Virtually; Panel discussion; Question & Answer Evaluation Methods: Evaluation is offered at the end of the program through the UHMS Online CME Portal, which evaluates the effectiveness of the meeting, speakers and that no bias was presented, and overall objectives were met. References: UHMS Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Indications, Fifteenth Edition; National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 99 Health Care Facilities Code