Wilderness First Responder

NEXT AVAILABLE COURSE

Mayb 5-8, 2025
Bellever Tor, Dartmoor

6 day course
2 days pre-course learning (Self Directed)
4 days practical component in Chamonix

The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is an international recognised qualification offering 60 hours of learning / CPD.

This intensive and very practical course is delivered over 4 days, with 2 days of knowledge acquisition completed prior to the course. There is continuous practical assessment throughout the course and written exam on the final day.
The course gives a 2 year certificate for use of Prescription Only Medications (POMs) of drugs taught on the course and for use in remote settings outside the UK, and governance of administration of intramuscular injections and subcutaneous fluid.

It is an ideal qualification for guides and outdoor instructors wanting to take their medical skills to the next level, or for healthcare professionals embarking on a career in expedition medicine.

If you are looking for a shorter course that specifically focuses on working in remote locations around the globe with very limited access to pre-hospital services then please review our
Remote Medical Responder Course.

Overview | Logistics | Itinerary |

COURSE OVERVIEW

The course is designed and delivered by senior expedition medical doctors. Medical and trauma scenarios focus on remote and wilderness emergencies of the sort you may find when on an expedition within the UK, or countries with access to pre-hospital services. It is therefore also an excellent starting point for those junior clinicians looking to launch a career in expedition and wilderness medicine, providing you with the knowledge and skills to approach medical or trauma emergencies with structure and confidence, and the decision making and communication skills necessary for a timely evacuation. 

The 6 day course includes 2 days of pre-course remote learning followed by 4 days of intensive practical teaching and learning using case discussions and scenarios of medical emergencies, trauma, wounds and burns, environmental injuries, and mental health and wellbeing; it also covers some of the non-medical aspects of being a WFR such as expedition medical planning, organising, putting together an expedition medical kit, camp skills, navigation and safety. 

UK courses includes an overnight expedition to a remote location with trauma scenarios en route.

This course has been approved for Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine credits through the Wilderness Medical Society. Actual credits awarded depend on personal credit needs and history

LOGISTICS

€695
Chamonix

INCLUDED

✓ Course tuition ✓ 2 years governance for Prescription only Medication ✓Endeavour flash cards

NOT INCLUDED

Accommodation, Food, Personal equipment

COURSE itinerary

- Legal and ethical considerations of giving care in the wilderness
- Expedition medical planning including human factors and heuristics 
- Basic Life Support
  - A-E assessment
  - Normal vital signs
  - BLS with basic airway management
    Oxygen use, management and storage
    Use of NPA (Nasopharyngeal Airways)
    Demo of OPA (Oropharyngeal Airway) and iGel
  - Anaphylaxis
  - Drowning
- Medical Illnesses: 
  - asthma, cardiac disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal illness, stroke 
- Good nursing care
- Environmental injuries; heat, cold, altitude, jungle
- Tropical medicine, bites and stings
- Head and spinal injuries
- Chest and abdominal trauma
- Fractures and dislocations
- Expedition nutrition 
- Women’s health in the wilderness 
09:30 Introductions and aims of the course 
10:00 Round table medical planning workshop 
11:00 Break
11:30 Practical round robin 
- DR ABCDE
- BLS, AED, drowning, choking
- Vital signs, airway (NP, with OPA demo) and oxygen
- Anaphylaxis
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Practical:
- Wounds and burns
- Practice closing wounds with glue and steri strips
- Application of bandages and dressings
15:00 Case discussion: medical illnesses refresher
15:45 Tea
16:15 Scenarios: medical illness and emergencies
17:30 Close
08:30 Workshop: legal and ethical considerations; documentation
09:00 Case discussions and practical: 
- Trauma recap 
- Wilderness triad
- Catastrophic bleeding and tourniquets 
- Pelvic and femoral bleeding splinting 
10:00 Review of of expedition medical plans (group activity) 
10:30 Break
11:00 Public health and hygiene 
12:00 Water purification 
12:45 Lunch
13:30 Practical: head and spinal injuries
- Assessment and tools for decision making
- Log rolls
- Straddle lifts
- How to make a neck safe
- Carrying casualties short distance
- Packaging casualties for evacuation 
- Rope stretcher / improvised carry
15:00 Wilderness wellbeing
- Culture on expeditions
- Nutritional considerations
16:30 Close 
09:00 Practical: fractures, dislocations and splinting 
- Analgesia options in trauma - Penthrox demo
- Assessing and splinting fractures, slings
- Reducing dislocations: finger, shoulder, patella, ankle
10:30 Tea
11:00 Multi trauma and triage
- Multi trauma scenarios
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Mental health discussion 
16:00 Tea
16:15 Medical kits and drug checklist / documentation 
17:30 Close
- What would you take to: jungle / altitude / polar / desert
09:00 Practical: ENT and eyes
- Examining and eye and removing a foreign body (lid eversion)
- Examining an ear
- Looking in a throat
- Rapid rhino nose demo
10:00 Tea
10:15 Giving IM injections 
11:15 Environmental illness case discussions / scenario
- Heat, cold, tropical, altitude
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Scenarios: medical and trauma
- Beyond the avalanche - managing airway and trauma post avalanche
15:30 Tea
15:45 Written exam
16:30 Certificates
17:00 Course depart

What our course attendees have said

“Relevant to [my] job and environment. Excellent balance of theory and plenty of hands on and practical sessions which included feedback and recapping from the previous day. New and different to other courses I have done. Brilliant course leaders were fantastic; interesting, knowledgeable, experienced, fun, happy to answer all kinds of questions and go off on tangents.”
“Super thorough. It’s been the best first aid course that I’ve attended!”
“The information presented was delivered at a comfortable pace, and in a way that was easy to digest.”