Wilderness First Responder (EXP 360) Class Notes

Wilderness First Responder

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EXP 360 Wilderness First Responder

View official course description

Beyond first aid skills are medical skills. This course provides students the knowledge to practice basic medical skills in wilderness environments.

Topics include:

• Patient assessment
• Splinting
• Wound care
• Cold and heat emergencies
• Burns
• Pharmacology
• Care of the C-Spine
• Introduction to Neuro-Exam in remote settings.

All skills will be practiced in field exercises and mock rescue settings.

Prerequisite: None

Credit Hours: 3

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Assess patient needs
2. Care for wilderness trauma
3. Demonstrate splinting
4. Manage c-spine injuries
5. Demonstrate wound care
6. Understand cold and heat emergencies
7. Care for dislocations
8. Demonstrate treatment of bites and stings
9. Understand wilderness pharmacology
10. Assess and care for eye injuries

Course Content

1. Introduction to Wilderness First Responder
2. Wilderness Environment and Wilderness Equipment
3. Introduction to patient care and to Medical Kits
   • ABCs
   • Patient contact and communication
   • Moving patients
4. First Aid Refresher
   • Airways
   • Bleeding control
   • Vital signs
   • Moving and assessing patients
5. Patient Assessment
6. Wilderness Trauma
7. Wilderness Orthopedics
8. Wound Care, Bandaging, & Sub-ungal hematomas
9. Patient Packaging
10. Managing the c-spine and neuro exams
11. Splinting
12. Cold & Heat Emergencies
13. Lightning Injuries
14. Altitude
15. Dislocations
16. Bites, Stings, & Anaphylaxis
17. Wilderness Pharmacology
18. Eye Injuries
19. Search & Rescue operations

Bibilography

• Auerbach, P.S. ed (2001). Wilderness medicine: management of wilderness and environmental injuries ; St. Louis, Mo: Mosby.
• Backer, H.D., Bowman, W.D., Paton, B.C., Steele, P. & Thygerson, A., eds (1998). Wilderness first aid: emergency care for remote locations . Boston: Jones & Bartlett.
• Blair, E. (1964). Physiology of hypothermia & clinical hypothermia. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Forgey, W.W., ed. (2001) Wilderness medical society: practice guidelines for wilderness emergency care, 2nd ed. Guilford, Ct: Globe Pequot Press.
• Rosen, P. & Barkin, R.M., eds. (1992) Emergency medicine: concepts and clinical practices, 3rd ed. St. Louis: Mosby.
• Tilton, B. & Hubel, F. (1994). Medicine for the backcountry, 2nd ed. Merivillle, In: ICS Books.
• Weiss, E.A., (1998). Wilderness 911. Seattle: The Mountaineers.Wilkerson, J.A., ed. (1992). Medicine for mountaineering, 4th ed. Seattle: The Mountaineers.

Have You Registered Yet?

• If you are a SUNY Plattsburgh student, you can register for the course on Banner Web.
• If you are not a student, you can register here.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about Expeditionary Studies classes, please feel free to contact us:

Larry Soroka, Director and Chair  
Phone: (518) 564-5292
E-mail: laurence.soroka@plattsburgh.edu