First Aid

Ouch! Your friend gets stung by a jellyfish while you're out surfing. How do you respond?

While climbing in Greece with a friend, you witness another climber takes a fall. She swings hard, feet first, into the wall. The rope stops her, but she is clutching her ankle and screaming. what do you and your friend, a WFR and a WEMT respectively, do?

You witness someone fall from a horse; they are unresponsive. How do you use your Wilderness Medicine skills in this situation?

After a strenuous hike, you and your team find a tent just off the trail at 11,300 ft. You call out, “Hello, is anyone in the tent? This is search and rescue. We have a report of someone who needs assistance?” See what happens next in this case study.

Test your wilderness medicine skills to see how you would respond to this first-aid scenario.

Your hiking partner slips on a snowy slope and slides head-first into a tree. What do you do next?

On a paddling trip in Big Bend National Park, a participant starts having leg spasms. What do you do?

A student gets a hot water burn deep in the backcountry. What do you do?

See what you would do to respond to and treat a possible snakebite.

A climber collapses at the crag. What do you do next?

What would you do to help a patient with hypothermia while winter camping?

To reduce the strain on local health care facilities during a global crisis, you can step up and use your first aid training to treat some injuries at home.

Test your knowledge with this case study about a patient with an ankle injury on a backcountry hunt.

Test your knowledge with this case study about a patient having breathing difficulty in a remote mountain setting

This case study focuses on how responders must be creative and thoughtful to adapt plans as they care for patients on a wilderness—not city—timeframe.

It’s important to be aware of the different types of heat illness, and their treatment principles, should an emergency arise—take a look at them in this post.

Summer means it’s time to grab your fishing gear and head outside. But have you checked the forecast—and do you know how to manage risk from a lightning strike?

At 6:30 in the morning some of your participants come and tell you that their tentmate is complaining of abdominal pain. As the WFR-trained course leader, you go to their tent to investigate.

Five days into sea kayaking with friends in Prince William Sound, Alaska you feel lousy; some diarrhea, some vague abdominal cramping, not much appetite. You assume it's a touch of the flu and don't say anything. See what happens next and test your knowledge with this case study.

You and a friend are on a long run in the foothills of the Laramie Range in Wyoming. It’s a hot day. Four hours into the run your companion stumbles, slows, staggers, and sits on a log. He says he “feels awful.”

A trip participant has trouble on a rappel. When they are safely on the ground, you begin your patient assessment. Test your wilderness medicine skills with this case study.

When we travel into the backcountry with someone who has diabetes, it’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, know how to provide treatment, and understand when we should evacuate someone.

When symptoms are hard to define, the skills of decision-making and problem solving become more important. Test what you know in this case study!

Do you know how to prevent, recognize, and treat a non-freezing cold injury (NFCI)? Test your wilderness medicine skills with this case study.