title: [Health fitness assessment for recreational diving requires special medical competence].
abstract: Recreational diving has become increasingly popular in Sweden over the last years and about half a million dives are made each year. During the same time the health requirements for diving have changed and today we allow asthmatics and diabetics to dive under certain conditions. Chest X-ray, that earlier was compulsory, is not required in the fitness to dive examination, and in the future Europe the minimal requirements will be a health declaration rather than a FTD examination by a doctor. Despite this there will be a need for doctors with competence in diving medicine to handle medical problems in connection to diving and to evaluate all the questions generated by the divers' answers in the health declarations.
authors.affiliation: Institutionen för försvarsmedicin, Karolinska institutet, Stockholm. hans@ornhagen.se
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ornhagen
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004242:Diving / Q000193:education / Q000293:injuries / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D010819:Physician's Role; D011361:Professional Competence