Policy and Procedural Guidelines for Hyperbaric Facilities

The field of hyperbaric medicine, along with hyperbaric centers throughout the United States and abroad, continues to grow. This growth has been exponential, touting an increase from 350 centers in 1993 to well over 2,500 programs today. With this progression exists a need to establish a resource guideline for developing complete and comprehensive policies and procedures for clinical hyperbaric units.

Hyperbaric policy and procedures provide the guiding principles and foundation for safety, quality, transparency, and cost-effective hyperbaric medical and nursing practice. Every hyperbaric facility needs to follow its specific policies and procedures.

Policy and Procedural Guidelines for Hyperbaric Facilities provides needed resource and reference guidelines for new and established hyperbaric facilties. It will serve as a reference for the development of new hyperbaric policies as well as customize and enhance current policies and procedures already in place.

Policy and Procedural Guidelines for Hyperbaric Facilitiesaddresses issues of safety and practice for both the multiplace and monoplace environments. It utilizes regulatory guidelines and standards of practice as its foundation. Topics covered in this work include, but are not limited to, governance, administration, emergency procedures, patient care, hyperbaric chamber maintenance, treatment protocols and quality improvement. The appendices include sample forms for both Class A multiplace and Class B monoplace chambers. They are intended to serve as templates for development of hyperbaric unit-specific forms. Also included are acronyms, references, and an index, all specific to hyperbaric medicine.

The guidelines provided in this document will benefit the diverse group of physicians, nurses, tecnicians, and allied health-care peronnel in the hyperbaric field as they customize their unit-specific policies and procedures. The contributing authors are comprised of established experts in the field of undersea and hyperbaric medicine. They are a diverse group of physicians, nurses, and technologists who devoted an extensive amount of time and energy into producing this resource document of the highest quality. Specific acknowledgments can be found in the List of Contributors section of the book.