Diving Medicine and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Dr Doug Watts is Medical Director of DDRC Healthcare (formerly Diving Diseases Research Centre).
DDRC provides hyperbaric treatment in the South West and also runs the diving accident helpline, providing hyperbaric and diving medicine advice to clinicians and divers nationally.
Doug has an interest in improving education in diving medicine amongst doctors in the UK.
From recreational scuba diving to saturation divers living under pressure for weeks at a time on the seabed, this talk explores what happens to the human body in one of the most hostile environments on earth.
Dr Watts will cover pressure, how things go wrong, and what decompression illness actually looks like when a diver walks (or is wheeled…) into the emergency department.
He is involved in raising awareness amongst hospital doctors of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat a number of conditions, as well as trying to highlight the dangers of using HBOT for non evidenced based indications and “wellness”.
The talk will cover iatrogenic gas embolism, a condition that is probably more common than we think and one that any hospital doctor could encounter.
A real case will show how a routine dialysis session led to cardiac arrest, neurological collapse, and ultimately a full recovery thanks to prompt recognition and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Doug will round off with a look at some of the other clinical uses of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and which indications have evidence behind them and which don’t.
Doug initially trained as a GP and worked as a civilian for the Royal Marines before joining DDRC in 2017.
He continues to work part time as a GP.
Join us to hear Doug's overview of this important but very different branch of the medical profession.
* Please note that payment will be required at least one week in advance of the event. Cancellations received within 48 hours of the event cannot be refunded.
