What is a Medical Examiner of Divers (MED level 1)?

Medical Examiner of Divers is the European registration as a diving physician. The European Committee for Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM) and the European Diving Technology Committee (EDTC) have established (European) guidelines that training programmes for diving physicians must meet. It is a specific training that prepares physicians to examine commercial divers, sport divers, research divers and other divers, and to assess their fitness to dive. The medical examination of professional divers in the Netherlands is reserved for A-B diving physicians, who are generally also occupational physicians. A MED is authorised to examine professional divers in the rest of Europe. In that case, you will need to familiarise yourself with the local guidelines for professional divers.

NVD-MED level 1 course

The European College for Baromedicine (ECB), the registration committee of the ECHM, has accredited the NVD course Medical Examiner of Divers (MED level 1). As of 2022, the NVD-MED course has been included in the curriculum of the sports medicine training programme, but is open to all BIG-registered physicians. The course duration is four days and concludes with an examination. Experience with compressed air diving is strongly recommended. Participants without any diving experience are therefore also offered the opportunity to take a trial dive with a diving school in the centre of the country.

Accreditation

This course is accredited with 24 points for general practitioners, occupational physicians, sports physicians and all (other) medical specialisms, and these are automatically added to your GAIA file. Since the course is also part of the sports medicine training programme, 24 accreditation points do not apply to AIOS sports medicine trainees.

Central Register for Short Vocational Education (CRKBO)

The Dutch Society for Diving Medicine is registered in the Central Register for Short Vocational Education (CRKBO). The Central Register for Short Vocational Education is an independent organisation that assesses whether training institutes meet the following criteria in order to receive an official quality mark. Assessment takes place through an extensive audit.

When?

• 2026: 25 & 26 September, 2 & 3 October (four-day course)
  Location: Sports Medicine – Professor Bronkhorstlaan 26, 3723 MB Bilthoven
  Accreditation VSG (GAIA): 24 points
  Register

Regular lecturers

• dr. Thijs Wingelaar (course director)
  military diving physician at the Royal Netherlands Navy, DMP, board member NVD
• Mattijn Buwalda
  anaesthesiologist, DMP
• Dirk Dietz de Loos
  ENT physician
• Emile Dubois
  pulmonologist, DMP, board member NVD
• prof. dr. Rob A. van Hulst
  special professor of Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, consultant in diving medicine
• Prashant Komdeur
  sports physician, DMP
• Bram Querido
  psychiatrist, psychotherapist, PADI staff instructor, MED, board member NVD
• Rienk Rienks
  cardiologist, DMP, chairman NVD
• Rik Rösken
  internist-allergologist-freediver

General information

The content of this postgraduate education follows the approved curriculum of the Diving Medical Advisory Committee (DMAC), the European Diving Technology Committee (EDTC) and the European Committee of Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM). The training has been approved by the Diving Medical Advisory Committee and the European Diving Technology Committee (DMAC/EDTCmed) as a Level 1 – Medical Examiner of Divers training.

Course content

• Theory
  • General
    • introduction to diving techniques and equipment
    • diving physics
    • diving physiology
    • diving medical examination
  • Specialisms
    • psychiatry & neurology
    • cardiology
    • pulmonology
    • ENT
  • Diving diseases
    • pathophysiology of decompression sickness and barotrauma
    • decompression sickness
    • pulmonary barotrauma and cerebral arterial gas embolism
    • nitrogen narcosis
    • oxygen toxicity
    • diving accidents, incidence and cause
    • first aid in diving accidents
  • Other
    • tables and dive computer
    • commercial diving
    • marine biology
    • free diving
    • interactive case reports
• Practical
  • skills lab
  • trial dive (intended exclusively for participants who have no prior experience with compressed air diving).

Costs

Including all course materials, lunches, coffee and tea: € 1,295
Excluding certification costs: € 25 for NVD members and € 50 for non-members.
Re-examination costs: € 25 for NVD members and € 50 for non-members.
Accommodation is not included.

Administration

Through the NVD you can obtain certification from the ECB as a European certified diving physician. The NVD has set up a dedicated website (Diving Physician Certification) specifically for certification and recertification. On this site you can create an account; use the same email address that you use to log in to the NVD website if you wish to take advantage of the discount available to members. The account will ask you to upload the documents required for recertification. Please note when submitting your application that when asked whether you already hold a certificate, you should answer “no”, as this is not a recertification.
You can submit your recertification application here.
– Download the general terms and conditions here
– Download the examination regulations here
– Download the complaints procedure here