Courses

Standard Courses

Wilderness medicine for everyone.

Wilderness First Aid

Wilderness First Aid is the ideal course for outdoor enthusiasts on overnight or short-term wilderness adventures. Students will be able to recognize medical emergencies and will become familiar with basic life-saving skills, patient assessment, and basic field care for common injuries.

Wilderness Advanced First Aid

The Wilderness Advanced First Aid is the perfect entry-level course for outdoor adventurers and outdoor professionals who may need to provide patient care when help is delayed for hours to days. The course focuses on basic lifesaving skills, patient assessment, field care for common injuries and illnesses, environmental illnesses, and proper reporting for rescue assistance.

Hybrid Wilderness Advanced First Aid

This course option includes a required e-learning section with 20+ hours of interactive online learning followed by 2+ days (18-20 hours) of in-person training. The Wilderness Advanced First Aid is the perfect entry-level course for outdoor adventurers and outdoor professionals who may need to provide patient care when help is delayed for hours to days. The course focuses on basic lifesaving skills, patient assessment, field care for common injuries and illnesses, environmental illnesses, and proper reporting for rescue assistance.

Bridge – Wilderness Advanced First Aid To Wilderness First Responder

Build on your Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) skills to transition to the scope of practice and competency of a Wilderness First Responder (WFR). This course must be taken within three years of WAFA certification to qualify. Pre-course review is required to ensure you have the foundational knowledge to successfully bridge from a WAFA to a WFR in 4 days.

Wilderness First Responder

(7, 8, or 9-Day course)

This course option is entirely in-person during this 7, 8, or 9-day course. The Wilderness First Responder is a comprehensive medical training for outdoor educators, guides, professional search and rescue teams, and others who work and adventure in remote settings. Learn the essential skills, knowledge, and critical thinking required to assess and manage medical problems in low-resource environments for days and weeks if necessary.

Hybrid Wilderness First Responder

This course option includes a required e-learning section with 30+ hours of interactive online learning followed by 5 days (45 hours) of in-person training. The Wilderness First Responder is a comprehensive medical training for outdoor educators, guides, professional search and rescue teams, and others who work and adventure in remote settings. Learn the essential skills, knowledge, and critical thinking required to assess and manage medical problems in low-resource environments for days and weeks if necessary.

5-Day Wilderness First Responder

This course option includes 30+ hours of pre-course work via textbook review and the completion of a study guide followed by 5 days (45 hours) of in-person training. The Wilderness First Responder is a comprehensive medical training for outdoor educators, guides, professional search and rescue teams, and others who work and adventure in remote settings. Learn the essential skills, knowledge, and critical thinking required to assess and manage medical problems in low-resource environments for days and weeks if necessary.

Wilderness EMS Upgrade

This course helps providers determine the areas of their scope of practice that are effective in pre-hospital wilderness and remote settings. Interdisciplinary providers are intentionally mixed during performance tasks to promote future collaboration in the field. Participants in this course include Advanced Practice Providers, Registered Nurses, EMTs and Paramedics, search and rescue medical leaders, expedition medics, DMAT team members, and military medics. This course will help providers prepare for the WP-C test.

Wilderness Advanced Life Support

For Advanced Care Medical Practitioners to discuss and develop the skills necessary for critical patient care in remote and resource-challenged settings. Learn new ways to utilize technology for life-saving efforts in unique situations. AMA PRA Category 1 credits are awarded through the Wilderness Medical Society at course completion.

Recertification

Certifications not reflected below can be obtained by re-taking the original course. Only students with current or non-expired certifications are eligible to recertify.

Wilderness First Responder Recertification (3-day)

This course option requires students to review their textbooks and field guides as preparation followed by three days of in-person instruction.  Students are expected to perform at the WFR level on day 1. Students will review essential skills, wilderness protocols, and updates in wilderness medicine. The specific content covered in the class will vary based on the participants.  

Hybrid Wilderness First Responder Recertification

This course option includes a ~ 12-hour required e-learning section of interactive online learning followed by 16 hours of class over 2 days. Students are expected to perform at the WFR level on day 1. Students will review essential skills, wilderness protocols, and updates in wilderness medicine. The specific content covered in the class will vary based on the participants.    

Specialized Courses

Our specialized courses are customized wilderness medical courses for mariners, field scientists, industry workers, war correspondents, medical students, and those engaged in international volunteer work or study abroad.

Offshore Emergency Medicine

This maritime first aid course prepares voyaging sailors and professional mariners to prevent and treat injuries and illnesses in the largest and most remote wilderness on earth. 

Wilderness First Aid for Field Services

This first aid course provides customized training for the medical needs of industry, technical, research, and field support employees in remote areas.

Travel Medicine First Responder

This course encompasses the scope and benefits of our WFR course with an additional emphasis on travel and tropical disease exposure, prevention,  response, international resources, and evacuation and treatment decision-making at an international level.

Travel Medicine First Aid

Enhance your ability to prepare, mitigate, and respond to medical emergencies such as injury and illness while traveling abroad. This program includes all the materials in the WFA course with an additional scope focused on medical response, risk reduction, and hazard identification in developing countries.

Wilderness Medical Elective

This course trains medical students to practice field medicine in remote and low-resource settings. Instruction includes case studies, simulated patient encounters, skills labs, and evidenced-based medicine reviews. Emphasis is placed on assessing patients, formulating problem lists, and implementing treatments and evacuations. Some schools count this as a for-credit elective.

Continuing Education Hours

Most of our standard courses are approved for continuing education hours (CEHs) for first responders, EMTs, paramedics, and others with EMS licenses through the Commission on Accreditation for Prehospital Continuing Education (CAPCE). We also offer AMA PRA Category I Credits for our WALS course and many of our WEMS courses provide credits for nurses. We’ve provided a table of CEHs you can review by course type and license type.

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