RAW Medicine Podcast with Todd Pschimelpfenig and Dr. David Johnson, two of the pioneers in Wilderness Medical Training:
A wilderness first responder is trained to deal with many situations that may be encountered in the wilderness. The training is principally geared towards lay providers, with little to no actual medical experience, though they are often already professionals in other aspects of the outdoors industry, like park rangers, climbing instructors, and guides. A standard Department of Transportation defined emergency medical responder (EMR) course, which focuses on urban medical emergencies, requires approximately 60 hours of training, while its backcountry counterpart, wilderness first responder course, typically involves 80 hours of training, covering much of what is taught in an EMR course, but with the additional hours spent putting it in a wilderness context. Wilderness first responder training courses focus on teaching the students to assess a situation, improvise solutions using available resources to stabilize the patient, and identify the best way to get the patient to definitive medical treatment. In many courses, students are encouraged to develop the habit of systematically thinking through and documenting their assessment decisions/plans using a SOAP note. Topics covered usually include, but are not limited to, the following principles:
- basic life support
- responding to results of physical trauma:
- management of signs and symptoms of circulatory shock
- management of soft tissue injury such as a burn or wound
- prevention and/or treatment of blood-borne pathogens
- treatment of infectious diseases
- management of bone and joint injuries such as fractures, sprains, strains and dislocations
- management of suspected head and or spinal injury
- responding to the onset of sudden illness
- transport/evacuation planning and implementation. (Source: Wikipedia)
