Advice to Nurses, Paramedics & Other Healthcare Professionals
WMT is pleased to welcome many nurses and other healthcare professionals including paramedics and physiotherapists, on WMT courses every year and this page aims to help you choose which course(s) would be most suitable for you between our Explorer series (mainly for laypeople) and our Medic courses.
Substantial numbers of nurses and paramedics work as expedition medics across the globe each year, returning home refreshed and bringing back valuble workplace skills. As with most advanced care courses offered in the hospital setting, Wilderness Medical Training recognise the benefits of these experiences and ensures our medical training is fully multi-disciplenary, encouraging learning between all health care professionals. Not only do our courses provide you with the necessary knowledge to begin a career in wilderness medicine, but they will reward you with an increased level of confidence and enthusiasm which only adds to your day-to-day practice, in hospital or otherwise.
Your level of experience will determine which WMT course is most suitable. Naturally there are considerable variations in the level of training and experience of nurses and paramedics. Those with little or no experience in high dependancy areas such as intensive care or emergency medicine are more likely to benefit from an Explorer series course, which will also provides authorisation to obtain POMs. We sometimes make exceptions for nurses and paramedics to bypass our pre-requisite training (Far From Help or Advanced Medicine) and go straight onto Far From Help Part 2/Advanced Refresher. This course imparts practical and theoretical skills normally associated with advanced nurse or paramedic practitioning. Those with a few years under their belt and further training, such as ALS/APLS/PHTLS would be well suited and welcome to join any of WMT’s Medic courses which are well within the comprehension of experienced and knowledgeable healthcare professionals of all disciplines. These courses range from weekend Jungle and Mountain Medicine events, to longer courses in Chamonix, France to a week long Morocco expedition.
The skills and knowledge aquired from WMT will prepare you for operating independently as the team medic or as part of a wider expedition medical team, say with Raleigh International, MSF or other expedition organisations.
Whilst we discuss medications and medical kits on all Medic courses, we do not provide authorisation to obtain and use these supplies which may be an issue for those who aren’t doctors. We do provide this authorisation on all Explorer courses which is why many nurses, paramedics, physios etc. will do a Medic and Explorer course with WMT.
We are always happy to discuss which course would be most suitable for you. Please get in touch using the contact page.
James Moore, Matron
WMT Senior Instructor
