Outline & essential info
Covid update: don’t see dates or prices for this course? Please read this page.
Living, working and being a medic in the mountains is demanding and occasionally dangerous. There are special medical problems associated with hypoxia at higher altitudes and freezing temperatures to understand, and there is potential for trauma due to avalanches and other terrain hazards. The mountain medic needs to be autonomous in the hills and be physically fit and able to practice medicine on the mountainside. This practical, hands on course is lead by mountain medic experts and assumes no prior mountain experience. Mountain Medicine is a fun, 2-day course that’s more outdoors than indoors.
Delegate Feedback
All great teachers, plenty of humour and effective communication of a lot of knowledge
Excellent – feel much better equipped and improved confidence
Loved the practical outdoor stuff. Truly excellent…
Content was well balanced between mountain stuff and medicine.
Comprehensive…lots of new material for myself.
The sessions… were punctuated with anecdotes and real life experiences which left me with no doubt that I was being taught by experts who had mastered their skills through years of practice in the field.
Downloads
Avaiable when dates are published.
Target audience
Medic mountain lovers of all grades, nurses, medical students and any OHP are welcome to attend. No prior climbing or expedition experience is required but you must be reasonably fit. Whether you are flirting with the idea of accompanying a team up Kilimanjaro, bolstering your CV or simply want a fun, inspiring educational weekend in the Lake District, Mountain Medicine will satisfy your aims.
What’s covered on Mountain Medicine?
This is a busy two days with loads of practical sessions, group work, lectures and discussions. There’s lots to learn about mountain craft and this course will give you an excellent grounding. Many students arrive early or stay on to explore under their own steam. We issue a comprehensive course manual with a lot of “bonus” material (see note below). No POM authorisation is included.
Intensive training on the hill includes:
Security on steep ground – simple rope work
Radio communications
Introduction to using GPS
Map & compass navigation
Safe river crossing
Mountain safety equipment
Patient packaging – moving, straightening, lifting, moving
Fracture management – improvised splinting
Wound management
Working around helicopters
Rescue scenarios
The lecture & discussion group sessions include:
Expedition medical planning
Compiling a mountain medical kit
Choosing & packing personal equipment
Mountain navigation theory
Water purification
Thermal injury – hypothermia, frostbite, cold water immersion
Acute mountain sickness – prevention and treatment
Use of portable altitude chambers
So you wanna be an expedition medic?
Saturday evening inspirational lecture (s)
CPD
We estimate that this programme is valid for approximately 12 CPD credits.
Medic course manual – what’s covered?
We issue the same comprehensive Medic course manual on ALL WMT Medic courses so there is a lot of “bonus” material in addition to what is specifically covered on any particular course syllabus. For example, there are extensive notes on diverse topics such as heat injury, tropical medicine, expedition dentistry, diving medicine, swift water rescue and other topics that are not covered on this course.
Course timings
Venue dependant