Wilderness Medicine

Hi all.

In an effort to keep the quality of content shared on this sub high, users posting outbound links—for example, to YouTube.com or NOLS.edu—will now be required to make a comment in their post on how the link pertains to wilderness medicine.

For instance, if you share a video on a splinting technique, you might comment on how it might or might not be effective in a wilderness context.

Or, if you were to share a link to a course that's being offered, you might share your experiences with that school/outfitter, if applicable, or what a reader of this sub might expect to learn in said course.

Posts that do not contain a comment connecting the shared content to wilderness medicine are subject to removal.

This new rule also pertains to content crossposted from other subreddits. This policy does not apply to comments on existing posts.

In order to help remind people of this change in policy, we're in the process of adding u/AutoModerator to r/wildernessmedicine. The AutoMod will automatically comment on new posts containing links reminding users of this policy. If you experience any wonkiness with the AutoMod in the days to come, please let the mod team know.

As always, affiliate links, links to crowdfunding campaigns, self-promotion without prior mod approval, and spam are not and will not be tolerated on this subreddit.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about the new policy, feel free to share them here!

Putting together a new kit in an MR Medlid bag, is anyone using these for wilderness med? If so I would love any recommendations/tips as far as organization and setup goes, or if you want to just attach a picture of your setup that would be greatly appreciated.

For context I have my WFR cert and I'm in EMR school right now.

TIA

Anyone here taken the online-only WFR recert or WFA courses from Survival Med or Base Medical? Looking for opinions on curriculum/instruction and whether hands-on practice via zoom/video is a reasonable substitute for doing it in person.

anyone know what happens when you don't do good enough on the quiz?

I get 3 attempts to get 80% on it and I have so far but I'm actually so confused on one module and have 1 left left and idk if I'll get to 80%. so do i fail out of the course or...

sry if this is dumb it's kinda embarrassing I'm doing so bad on it but I'm now nervous if I don't get

https://www.longleafmedical.com/schedule.html

Most of the WFR experiences I see are through NOLS, but a hybrid WFR class is popping up on my city soon through Longleaf Medical and I'm thinking about taking it. Does anyone have any experience with then? Wondering how it compares with NOLS.

Hey folks!

i'm a 23 year old woman who is currently in my third year in state parks and second year as an (assistant) ranger. Though i love this path, for sure, I'm primarily really interested in wilderness medicine and getting trained in this specific niche.

I'm hoping on completing my WEMT certification sometime after my season at parks. I'm ultimately really interested in (wildland) firefighting/EMT or the NPS- but i know i'll be taking at least a couple years to build skills and gain experience, and it seems WEMTs end up in a varying set of careers, which I like and appreciate. I'm also considering getting trained as a paramedic eventually, but I'm focused on getting my WEMT cert first before I make any more decisions career-wise.

I've heard vaguely WEMT is preferred for several positions in the outdoor realm. i guess my questions for the people with knowledge on this subject are:

1) did anyone go from parks (state or otherwise) to wilderness medicine or EMS? how was that?

2) is a WEMT cert a plus for departments/fields like Forest Service, NPS, or firefighting?

3) Are there other positions, even nontraditional, that would use WEMT skills?

Thanks so much!

Can anyone suggest the best training vendors out there that incorporate the latest practices in their material? I am looking to do a course that is not as time-consuming as a WEMT but is fairly robust for remote, expedited, disaster-type theatres. I ask because some companies out there are not always keeping up to date with the latest methodologies. Many thanks.

Hi all! I am a paramedic who graduates nursing school in 11 months. I’m looking to go into wilderness/remote locations for my career but have no idea what or where to start. Any advise or resources? I am open to anywhere and international as well.

Is it possible to get contracted / attached to an incident/division/engine/crew/etc to primarily render medical care as a WEMT? Or do you just have to be part of a handcrew and also have medical training?

Really looking for ways to get involved to utilize my EMT skills (also a rural volunteer firefighter) sooner than later. Yes, I'm NREMT and local region certified.

Your feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Have been a WFR for 17 years. Have been teaching WFA for 3 years.

I'm frustrated with the lack of instructor materials for scenarios so I'm turning to the world for assistance.

I plan on designing and printing 3"x5" scenario cards (slightly larger than a deck of cards) that cover:

• individual and partnered responders
• individual patient and mass casualty
• round robins (quick scenarios, 3-5 minutes to question patient and try to figure out what's wrong)

Card would have:

• Environment/conditions
• Patient found/presents as
• Patient S/s and vitals
• Patient Hx
• Actual

I'll add a comment with an example.

If you'd all give me your best/favorites in the comments, I'll work over this summer to get everything dialed.

Aside from the above, what else would you like to see on these cards? Feedback is always appreciated.

Hi all first post here. I'm a current WFR and Master Naturalist. I recently got connected with someone who may be interested in partnering with me to instruct homeschooling kids about the environment (they have the land and know the people, I have the knowledge type situation). I feel confident that I can instruct kids in basic environmental topics for sure. There may be a point where clients would ask for WFA training which I feel confident in providing but MY REAL QUESTION IS, is there some form of professional teaching credential that I could/should obtain before attempting to instruct anyone?

There are a lot of organizations that offer instructor training courses but then they want you to work for them which I don't want to do, I just want some form of credential to show clients like yes I can teach. Or is my WFR enough for WFA teaching?

TIA!

Hi all! First post on Reddit here. I’m a 4th year medical student in the UK and have been starting to think about my elective which takes place early 2025. Ideally. I ’d love to do something pre-hospital and out of England, which probably lends itself to anaesthetics/emergency. Also somewhere with a lot of wilderness/mountains!!

Does anyone have any experience or advice on personal experience, resources or organisations that would be good to look into regarding this? Also, any knowledge on bursaries as I don’t have a lot of money to throw at it!!

I’d be grateful for any advice surrounding any of this, thanks so much for reading my post !! :))

I'm studying for my WP-C and have looked at the candidate handbook and have most resources. I'm feeling the weakest at the rope systems snd technical rescue safety.

I currently have the NPS Technical Rescue Handbook and the Seth Hawkins Wilderness EMS book. Do you guys recommend any other resources?

Also any tips for the exam? I finished all the Mountain Rescue Association Courses and have TCCC / PFC CPG memorized by heart (I have FP-C and TP-C currently)

Hello. I want to take a WFA course because I'm an active hiker and paddler. I also happen to be an emergency nurse and paramedic. I need help picking the right training provider and, frankly, I'm a bit confused by the differences between NOLS, SOLO, WMA etc. The course material listed online looks similar/consistent. I'm in the NYC area so any one of these courses will likely involve a considerable drive to get to (WMA for example only seems to have courses in the 'Daks, a 6 hour drive).

Is there a difference from one training provider to another? Is one "better" or does the certification from one mean more than another?

My goal is to attend a professionally run training program to achieve certification. Looking at the registration pages at some of these organizations it looks like they subcontract the training to local companies, and that makes me concerned about quality and consistency of content delivery.

Hey all,

I have been refining my wilderness medical kit to make sure I have all the essentials.

I am a geologist who works in the field daily, and also recreate extensively in the backcountry.

I am also commonly the only one in the group with a med kit that has more than bandaids, so I pack accepting that I’m essentially the group medic

I am trained to a WFR level, so my loadout reflects this level of training. ( i.e minimal advanced medication besides epi and antibiotics, but thorough with the fundamentals)

Here is my list so far:

TUMMY:

-Loperamide HCL (Imodium) + Simethicone (gasx)

-Bismuth subsalicylate (pepto)

-Polyethylene glycol 3350 (miralax)

.

ANTIHISTAMINE:

-Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)

-cetirizine hcl (Zyrtec)

.

NSAIDs:

-disprin (chewable baby aspirin )

-ibuprofen (advil)

-naproxen (Aleive)

.

Cold/Flu:

-acetaminophen (Tylenol)

-Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)

-Guaifensin (muscinex)

-phenylephrine

.

ETC.

-Acetazolamide (diamox)

-Methylprednisolone (for extended care after administering epinephrine if evacuation is delayed)

-doxycycline (antibiotic/antimalaria)

-azithromycin

-albuterol

-epinephrine

-naloxene (narcan)

-electrolyte salts

-glucose gel

Am I missing anything? Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks,

Hey all, I‘m looking for a good WFR class.

Currently working as an AEMT for a private 911/transport company, been with them for a year but only recently got my advanced. I’m looking to transition from the city to wilderness medicine, currently leaning towards getting my WFR and seeing if I can land a job at a national park (or something along those lines). I’d love to move into the wildfire/parks service/search and rescue world; I think getting my WFR would be a good start but I’m open to any advice to get my food in the door.

I have plans to live and travel in a vehicle for the summer, so IF there are any real online courses that would be rad. I’ve looked into classes with survival and adventure med but I’m hesitant.

​

For background: I live in a city and don’t plan to work a job that requires an active WFR certificate. However I love the outdoors, do remote wilderness activities, sometimes work in remote settings abroad, and also think the course sounds fun. I see WFR (via WUMP for me) expires after 2 years, and not sure if I’ll be able to re-certify in-person that often.

For anyone who did the course for similar reasons - would you say it’s worthwhile even if I don’t keep it active?

Just renewed my BLS. Of course when talking about opening an airway on someone with suspected head or spinal injury the preferred method is the modified jaw thrust. (Sidenote: is there an “unmodified jaw thrust”?). Anyways, if you open an airway with a jaw thrust doesn’t the jaw just fall back down obstructing the airway when you let go? Can you use a pocket mask to deliver breaths with a jaw thrust? I’m thinking in terms of single rescuer CPR.

I’m currently a 2nd year SHO (junior doctor/intern depending on local nomenclature, not yet in training), planning on pursuing anaesthetics.

Very keen on a career in outdoor medicine and hoping to be able to get some side gigs going, be it with mountain expeditions, tropical medicine, or what have you.

My partner (non-medical), who wants to become an IFMGA guide has been looking at this 5-day PHEC course that got me intrigued. Only prerequisite seems a basic first aid course but teaches advanced trauma management, wilderness survival skills, advanced airway, etc.

I’m happy to spend time and money for courses that will be useful to build skills and get me closer to opportunities in my desired career, but I wondered if anyone has done a similar course and feels there’s a benefit to do one as a doctor or if it’s designed for people with limited background medical knowledge and I won’t get as much out of it.

Happy to provide more detail but wasn’t sure I’m allowed to post links.

What level of training do you need to perform this treatment? In civilian settings, it makes sense that standard first aid doesn’t include this, because EMS/paramedics are 10 mins away. But for austere settings, can a WFR legally perform decompression for a tension pneumothorax?

Hey all,

If I am going to get my WFR recertified, which school would you recommend?

I'm a qualified EMT and WFR, are there any specific instructor certs I'd need beyond that to teach a WFR or WFA course?

Hey all,

I'm in the midst of (W)EMT recerts. I have completed the refresher class and a few other classroom CEU's but am left with 6 hours of additional CE. I know I can phone it in with some ridiculous online CE's but am hoping to find something more substantial. My background is not EMS, I work in the field with fire and trail, am a chainsaw/crosscut evaluator.

Have you all found any useful CEU options with substance and lean toward Wilderness medicine?