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Wilderness Medical Training

Far From Help

What WMT says

The aim of FFH is to build confidence and achieve a thorough grounding in providing more comprehensive care in all remote environments to patients who are injured and ill. Far From Help training may enable you to resolve an injury, infection or illness condition in the field without resorting to evacuation and at the same time make your patient more comfortable by the control of pain, nausea and fever. FFH is WMT’s long standing foundation course that stands alone and includes the use of prescription only medications (POMs) which we authorise you to obtain. FFH is also a springboard to further training in invasive techniques. Many students have repeated FFH every few years to remain current – and prepared. Intensive, rewarding and comprehensive – FFH is anything but “basic”. Everyone embarking on adventurous travel or an expedition – whatever your aims – should complete FFH as a minimum. Excellent training + comprehensive field manual + POM authorisation = one stop shopping.

What students say

Excellent – covered loads, good scenarios/slides
Professional/friendly – good time keeping, supportive, informative
…well delivered with good use of materials, props & demos

“This just to send my warmest thanks and congratulations for a superb course over the w/e. It actually exceeded expectations and I was amazed how much we covered in such a short time. It was professional in every way. Relaxed, engaging, highly informative and with the sure knowledge that we were being taught by someone who had been there, seen it and done it. ”

“WMT has set the standard by which wilderness first aid courses are judged”. Saturday Telegraph 14/1/12 – read the full article online.

Who can attend?

No prior experience is required and anyone without medical training is welcome to attend. FFH has been attended by more than 1000 teachers, leaders, travelers, explorers, overland drivers, climbers, divers, field researchers, university staff and many others.

Research -what you might need to treat

A Royal Geographical Society study of 1263 medical complaints on expedition found that more than half (51%) were classified either as gastrointestinal upsets (30%) or medical problems (21% – infections, headache, malaria etc.). So there’s more than dramatic broken bones and sucking chest wounds to deal with! Minor illnesses left untreated, especially diarrhoea, can slow a whole team down, reduce productivity and enjoyment and threaten the success of an expedition.

What’s covered on FFH?

In short, FFH will help you deal with the most common problems that are identified by this RGS research and you’ll learn a range of medical skills and techniques, about the treatment of infections, illness and symptoms and how to treat injuries and special problems. The subjects covered are as follows.

Day 1
Introductions
Aims of course
Legal considerations
Expedition medical planning – includes anti-malarials and immunisations
Diagnosis – taking a history
Group work – examples of history taking
Measuring vital signs and examination of chest and abdomen
Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation – latest guidelines
Shock
ABC approach to injured casualties – practical
Moving, lifting and straightening a casualty
Soft tissue injuries and burns

Day 2
Head, neck, chest and abdominal injuries
Fractures, dislocations and use of splints
Common medical conditions. Management of diarrhoea
Cold injuries and altitude sickness
Practical – examining eyes and ears
Tropical problems – heat illness, malaria, bites and stings
Medical kits and supplies

Skills & Techniques

You’ll learn how to perform a physical examination, measure vital signs (e.g. blood pressure) and take a medical history from a patient. Examination + history = diagnosis, then treatment. Plus you’ll learn about improvised splinting, using neck collars and managing spinal injuries, examining eyes and ears, resuscitation in the wilderness and using a stethoscope.

Treating Infections, Illness & Symptoms

First aid courses mainly focus on dealing with injuries but people get ill on expeditions too. You’ll learn how to treat or manage a variety of illnesses and infections such as malaria, diarrhoea, wound infections, asthma and other important, common conditions of the heart, lungs, ears, nose and throat, water works and the gut. Symptom control is vital and you’ll also learn how to control or reduce fever, pain and nausea even if you don’t know what the underlying cause is.

Treating Injuries & Special Problems

FFH covers strains, sprains and fractures and other traumatic injuries, in addition to wounds, burns, frostbite, mountain sickness, some tropical diseases, bites and stings, rabies and shock.

Prescription Medications

You can read about using prescription antibiotics, Diamox (for high altitude) or strong pain killers in text books but the problem remains of how to obtain these supplies, how to use them appropriately taking into account allergies, contra-indications between medicines (taking more than one at a time) and your legal position. FFH training eliminates all these concerns. We’ll tell you what medical supplies to take and authorise you to purchase them. Our comprehensive field manual serves as an aide memoire in the field so you prescribe safely and we thoroughly cover the legal considerations on each course.

More 2012 course dates

More course dates are added throughout the year, usually with a minimum 3 month lead time.

Download more information

Download this file for more information about FFH.

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