News

Is there a standard in wilderness medicine training?

Authors of an editorial and article that appeared in the Wilderness and Environmental Medicine Journal earlier this year (Vol 20, 106 and 113-117) argued that there is no standard in wilderness medicine training for outdoor educators.  In addition, they suggested that organizations offering this training have curricula that are not evidenced-based and are quite possibly irrelevant to the true needs of their intended audiences.  They characterized these training organizations as fractious and secretive (my selection of words).  These suggestions and characterizations are misleading and inaccurate.  I personally have an open and collegial relationship with the principles of a number of these organizations.  We attend and present at some of the same conferences and regularly meet to discuss what we are doing and why.  Anyone can see what we teach by buying our texts, reading our blog, listening to our conference presentations, and freely downloading articles and protocols from our web site.  Over the years, these interactions have resulted in changes and upgrades for all of us.  The competitive atmosphere of excellence has forced each of us to look carefully at what we teach and how we teach it.  Being wrong and inept would result in marginalization as well as loss of business.  Over the last several years these conversations have become more focused.  The participants are highly experienced outdoor and educational professionals, some with long careers as outdoors medical practitioners.  They work or manage training organizations who have taught over 150,000 WFA students since 2000.  Through a collaborative effort with these peers, we hope to write Scope of Practice (SOP) documents to define the intended audience and what a person at different levels of training should be able to do and should not do in the field.  Ultimately the signatories will publish them for public information and scrutiny.  The first of these is a SOP for Wilderness First Aid (WFA). It will be discussed at this year’s American Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) conference in Minneapolis and presented to the Wilderness Medical Society.

Click here for the Wilderness First Aid (WFA) Scope of Practice.

Wilderness Medical Associates’ instructor, Jon Tierney, will be presenting a pre-conference workshop, PCIA Outdoor Climbing Instructors Course Provider Training, at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference 2-3 hours away from Durham, NC.

About the Workshop

The workshop is intended for experienced climbers and educators that wish to become providers of the PCIA Outdoor Climbing Instructor Courses.

Training will be held 2-3 hours away from Durham, NC and you will receive more information regarding logistics upon registering. Check out the Wilderness Risk Management Conference website for more information.

More About the Wilderness Risk Management Conference

• View a list of the WRMC workshops
• WRMC Website
• Follow WRMC on Twitter
• Follow Wilderness Medical Associates on Twitter
• Subscribe to WMA blog via email
• View the invitation letter from Chair

About the National Conference on Wilderness Medicine:

Mountain Destinations will be hosting the 23^rd annual National Conference on Wilderness Medicine between July 29, 2009 and August 2, 2009 in Big Sky, MT. The objective of this conference is to teach both practical and theoretical skills to medical/outdoor professionals and enthusiasts. After completing this course, participants will have the knowledge to describe, assess, and  treat medical problems and emergencies that are frequently encountered in wilderness settings.

Wilderness Medical Associates’ Curriculum Director, Jeffrey Isaac PA-C, will be conducting a wilderness workshop at the conference on Technology in Wilderness Medicine and Rescue on July 31.

Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS)

There will be a Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS) course offered as an optional class between July 28, 2009 and July 31, 2009.  The Wilderness ALS course will be conducted by WMA instructors Jeff Isaac, Will Smith, and Fay Johnson.

Useful Resources on the National Conference on Wilderness Medicine:

• View the Big Sky Conference brochure
• Check out the Schedule-at-a-Glance
• Follow WMA on Twitter or check out our Facebook page
• Read more about the Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS) course.

Click Here Register Online for the National Conference on Wilderness Medicine.

About the Wilderness Risk Management Conference:

The 2009 Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) will be held in Durham, NC between October 14-16, 2009. The objective of this conference is to effectively educate outdoor/medical professionals and enthusiasts in relieving risks that may occur in the wilderness. This workshop is sponsored by NOLS, Outward Bound, and Student Conservation Association (SCA).

Wilderness Medical Associates is excited to announce that some of our own instructors (Dr. David Johnson, Bill Frederick, Deb Ajango, and Jon Tierney) will be conducting various workshops at the conference. Leading up to the conference, we will be periodically featuring these instructors and  topics included in their workshops.

Resources and Updates About the Wilderness Risk Management Conference:

• View a list of the WRMC workshops
• WRMC Website
• Follow WRMC on Twitter
• Follow Wilderness Medical Associates on Twitter
• Subscribe to WMA blog via email
• View the invitation letter from Chair

It is almost a given that anyone who comments on medical issues should be saying something about swine flu and its implications. What more can we say? The stats and real (and imagined) seriousness and pervasiveness change daily. In the end this is still influenza, a potentially lethal respiratory virus that most people survive. It is spread person-to-person by water droplets produced from coughing and sneezing. It is relatively easy to avoid contact by staying home from work but not so easy to isolate oneself on board a small boat or in a tent when pinned down by a raging storm. Wash your hands and be courteous by coughing and sneezing into the crook of you elbow. When water is not readily available and you have the room, alcohol handwash solution is not a bad idea. As it turns out these are good ideas under any circumstances. Oseltamivir (e.g.,Tameflu – an antiviral) may be beneficial, especially if you are planning to head to Mexico or maybe CA or TX (and now even more places) but at $90+ US for ten 75mg tablets (www.drugstore.com) should this be a high priority; how much would you carry? Over-the-counter medications are of little to no use for treatment or prevention.

If you are worried, go to a reliable source, e.g., www.cdc.gov and not the nightly news cast. Remember, this is a quickly moving medical story. The people who know the most and are honest are likely to give fewer definitive, unequivocal answers than those who are removed from the center but seem to know it all.

Dr. David Johnson
President and Medical Director
Wilderness Medical Associates
Wilderness Medical Associates, Canada