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!

Now with 40% less practicing medicine without a license!

In all seriousness, this Mystery Ranch Medlid lived in my daypack for a three day campout. 30-40 kids, K-8. Light hiking, station based activities, fishing, lord of the flies horseplay, roughly 30 adults as well. We were very lucky and everyone made out okay in general. Front country camp, within half an hour drive we had a pediatric ER, Level II trauma center, and regional burn center.

Top to bottom, Left to right:

College of Remote and Offshore Medicine field guide.

Top panel: 2” trainers tape, shears, epi pen, 30ml syringe with #18 IV needle for wound irrigation, glucometer, kerlex x2, adult epi pen, nosebleed clamp, assessment pouch with SpO2 meter, batteries, thermometers (top and bottom)

Vomit bag

Med kit: Tylenol, Advil, sting swabs, Benadryl, cough drops, OTC eye drops, A+D ointment, Neosporin, burn cream, baby aspirin, afrin (nosebleeds) pepto, ORS, chewable Pepcid.

Left side panel: BP cuff, 6” Ace, 3” coban, sterile gloves, dental kit (filling, adhesive, brace wax, floss, topical anesthetic)

Center panel: (behind) ENT kit, instrument pack, foot care kit (mole skin and benzoin) sanitizer, bio bag, ear plugs, exam gloves, cravats x2, saline bullets x2, 3” kling x2.

Right panel: Chest seal twin pack, Chest dart, 4x4 x6, 5x9 x2, telfa pads x3

OR towel

Ears

Wound care pack (front pocket for access) bandaids, mefix, iodine, steristrips, benzoin

3x36 SAM

Not pictured: IFAK that lived in my right cargo pocket.

Let me know what you think. I cannot suggest the Medlid strongly enough for these medical coverage roles.

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.

Hi everyone 👋🏻 the Canadian Association of Wilderness Medicine (CAWM) is currently accepting applications for speakers and workshop leaders for the 2024 conference taking place November 1-3, 2024 in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada! Anyone is welcome to apply (students, physicians, academics, paramedics, nurses, SAR, etc)! Applications are due by 11:59pm on March 1st and speakers receive FREE conference registration 😊😊

Apply on the website here: https://cawm.ca/cawm2024/

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?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/venomous-snake-bites-kill-thousands-110019394.html

Still in development and testing so it will be awhile before it would be available if it even proves viable and gets FDA approval. Not necessarily a cure for a venomous snake bit, but if the article is to be believed definitely a game changer. Hopefully if it does work it will be affordable for us average Joes (not like Epipen expensive). This could be one of the most significant developments in wilderness medicine in a while. Fingers crossed this pans out.

I'm working through the online section of my WFR course and I'm feeling pretty rusty on patient assessments. Are there any resources for practicing patient assessments out there? Thanks in advance.

What are some of the most interesting wilderness med jobs out there for registered nurses? Any and all answers appreciated. Open to anywhere in the world :)

Currently USA based Acute coronary ICU and Emergency medicine extensive experience

Has anyone gotten their DiMM? Registered acute coronary ICU nurse in Ohio with some emergency med experience looking to pursue this diploma. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for additional certifications to get. New to the wilderness medicine scene but backpacking, hiking and backwoods activities are my passion.

Paramedics: has anyone taken the WP-C exam since it was established earlier this year? Are you willing to share any anecdotes or study tips that you found useful? Not useful?

Is anyone aware of Wilderness Emergency Fellowships open to canadian family doctors? If so, do they have additional prerequisites or proof of ER work?

This is especially for the mountain rescue or otherwise specialized rescue units in these directions.

My university (in EU) offers hikes as part of the compulsory sports lessons, this consists of up to 45 participants (+1 tour leader), one of the tour leaders approached a fellow student and me whether we can accompany them "medically".

We are quasi qualified a walking (german) IFT-Vanbulance (EMT-B with rudimentary training in Wilderness/Remote Medicine and an MFR) :)

Terrain is very rocky and uneven (official but unsecured and narrow trails).

Expected are falls (e.g. fractures/torsion) exhaustion, hypoglycemia, and the like.

Available rescue resources in a SHTF situation would be only mountain rescue and FD, HEMS does not exist in this country.

My question:

What would you classify as indispensable and take with you (besides the usual suspects: splint(s), small diagnostics, bandages incl. blister plaster, dextrose ...).

Approx remaining packing volume is 8 liters

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about doing the FAWM through Wilderness Medical Society. I've done WFR in the past and am mostly interested in FAWM to eventually participate/lead wilderness medicine education.

I’m in my final year of medical school have some money to spend on the candidacy fee right now, but money is still tight. Partly, I'm wondering how much they nickel and dime you after the candidacy fee.

Could I get some perspective on this, as well as your experiences with the course in general?

Thank you!

Can you guys help me clarify here.

Do you try to clean a wound before stopping the bleeding, or do you stop the bleed first, then go back in and try to clean it?

Obviously with life threatening bleeding, infection isn't as much of a concern as stopping the bleed, so you apply pressure till it stops, then do what you can to remove contaminants and disinfect, knowing you need to get to higher care ASAP (ideally before infection sets in).

But for more minor injuries like road rash, or small cuts where bleeding out isn't a concern, I have tended to try to irrigate and remove grit first, then bandage and try to stop the bleeding. Once things scab over, it is way harder to clean out the imbedded grit and such.

Realistically with these smaller cuts, the trip is going to continue, and the patient probably will never see a higher level of care - unless I don't clean it properly, and it gets infected.

​

Am I doing this all wrong?

I bought a bottle of topical cooling gel ("Cool Jel") and a gel-soaked 4"x4" dressing, both by Water·Jel, for a car and camping first aid kit. But the bottle says to store at room temperature and not to allow the contents to freeze. This means I can't store the items in a car in cold weather, and possibly also hot weather.

Can you suggest quick-use alternatives for cooling and dressing first and second-degree burns that might occur around campfires and accidents involving fuels? What about scenarios in which clean water is not immediately available?

I’m a shiny new NOLS WFR with plenty of personal wilderness experience, but no tangible FA or FR experience. I got certified for personal development and because i want to start guiding in the future.

Given that all skills - perhaps wilderness medicine especially - are perishable, I’d like to stay engaged.

I’ve been reading through old posts here, but are there other active communities, journals, case study sources, books, field journals (?), daily practices, etc., where I can keep my skills active? Who know when my first patient will appear in front of me.

Edit: I realized I can partially answer my own question. This has been a great, bite sized podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advanced-wilderness-life-support-awls/id1545837929