What should decisions regarding transportation after a dive be based on?

Decisions regarding transportation after a dive should be heavily informed by the severity of the injury and the distance to the medical facility. In cases of dive-related injuries such as decompression sickness or arterial gas embolism, the immediacy and quality of medical care are critical. A serious injury may require rapid transport to an appropriate facility that can provide hyperbaric treatment or other specialized care. Therefore, evaluating how severe the injury is and how far the individual needs to be transported to access the necessary medical attention informs the urgency and logistics involved in the transportation decision.

While other factors like the size of the dive group, time of day, and dive site location can influence the situation, they do not have the same crucial impact on making transportation decisions as the nature of the injury and proximity to the medical resources required for effective treatment.