WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE OF NOLS

WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

OFTEN IMITATED,
NEVER DUPLICATED
With more than 75,000 graduates around the world, the Wilderness Medicine
Institute (WMI) defines the standard in wilderness medicine training. As an
institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) our goal is to
provide the highest quality education and information for the recognition,
treatment, and prevention of wilderness emergencies. When 9-1-1 is not an
option, the rules change. Our curriculum focuses on medicine for times when
resources are scarce, there is no help on the way, and you have to make your Designed as a field
own decisions. textbook for the
WMI empowers people to act with confidence in emergency situations NOLS wilderness
first aid curriculum,
by providing students with the tools and training to make complex medical
NOLS Wilderness
decisions in remote environments. Our curriculum is evidence-based, relevant, Medicine (above),
and practical. We don’t just teach things that work in the classroom; we written by WMI
teach skills that work in the field. We seek out the best medical science curriculum director
Tod Schimelpfenig,
to support our practices, and we work closely with a medical advisory
helps to train out-
panel to ensure our students are receiving the most up-to-date and accurate door leaders to
material available. Often imitated, but never duplicated, we offer a wide prevent, recognize,
range of course and certification opportunities tailored to meet your needs. and treat common
backcountry medical
problems.

Often imitated by other wilderness medicine organizations, WMI stands

above the rest as the leader in wilderness medicine education.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

NO ORDINARY
CLASSROOM
At WMI, you’ll participate in a challenging academic program augmented “The curriculum
by realistic scenarios complete with simulated injuries. Our courses are was exceptionally
well-sequenced to
designed to give you the confidence and decision-making practice you
continually build
need to handle medical emergencies in remote settings. upon prior learning.
Days are filled with dynamic lectures and exciting, realistic scenarios The pacing kept us
to best model the kind of medical situations you might encounter, alert by alternating
informative lectures
whether your work or play takes you hours or days from medical help.
with carefully chosen
In the WMI classroom, you’ll get lots of personal attention, scenarios hands-on scenarios.
designed to enhance your ability to manage stressful situations, and These first aid and
plenty of fun. rescue scenarios
continually placed
Medical scenarios are the highlight of any WMI course, and we make
students in situations
them so realistic you’ll feel like they’re really happening. You will feel requiring thinking
the pressure and stress of treating a medical emergency that will prepare and analysis, rather
you for the real thing. WMI graduates around the world tell us every day than merely rote
memorization.
that real emergencies they have handled were “just like the scenarios.”
Furthermore, the
variety and fre-
quency of scenarios
kept reinforcing
our learning of
important skills.”
– WFR grad
December 1997

WMI practice scenarios know no

water, sand, or snow boundary.
No matter where your backcountry
work or play takes you, WMI can
give you the practice and lessons
you need to make informed
medical decisions.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

STUDENTS WHO
NEED TO KNOW
Our students have one important thing in “The knowledge
common: They are motivated because they and skills I gained
at WMI have un-
know someday they might have to respond to
doubtedly boosted my
a real emergency situation. They come to WMI level of preparedness
from a wide variety of professional backgrounds; for my many outdoor
they are outdoor educators, guides, ski patrollers, adventure activities,
and I look forward to
urban EMS providers, remote researchers,
applying these skills in
military special operators, or simply people who spend their free time a variety of situations.
in the backcountry. The experiential,
Whether for work or play, students come to WMI because we set the practical approach
that WMI espoused
standards in wilderness medicine today. WMI certification is accepted by
developed not only
guiding and educational institutions around the world. When you receive my skills in first
your education from WMI, current and future employers know that you’ve response, but also
been trained by the best. In fact, many of our students discover a passion my decision-making
skills and resource-
for medicine at WMI and go on to careers as healthcare professionals.
fulness in a greater
sense.”
– WFR grad
June 1998

Our students come to us because they know that someday they will
need to know enough to make competent, deliberate, and timely
medical decisions in the backcountry.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

SEASONED &
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
WMI instructors are the best wilderness medicine “From the get-go my
educators in the world. They know what it feels like instructors projected
knowledge, compe-
to make tough decisions in remote places because tence, and approach-
they’ve been there. WMI instructors possess a mix ability. They taught
with a delightful
of backgrounds ranging from wilderness expeditions
mixture of seriousness
to urban and wilderness patient care to teaching in a and flair, often
variety of settings worldwide. After a rigorous instructor selection and conveying critical
points with memo-
training process, they are well prepared to facilitate active, hands-on rable humor or vivid
learning. All of our instructors go through an instructor course intentionally imagery. Their
designed to polish their educational skills and to make them the best individual teaching
styles were very
wilderness medicine educators in the world. complementary…
their enthusiasm
for the content never
flagged and it was
quite infectious.”
–WFR grad
December 2006
I N S T R U C T O R P R O F I L E WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

LAURA MCGLADREY
GRIEBLING WEMT, RN, FNP
Making the best of a bad situation: This is the mantra for Laura
McGladrey Griebling when practicing wilderness medicine. “The
wilderness can be anywhere we find ourselves with a need to
improvise,” she says. “These skills could be applied by so many
people, from mountain guides to village people in far away places,
to nurses and doctors outside the ER who have to practice without
their normal tools.”
Laura, also known as “Glad,” works as a nurse practitioner in Portland, Oregon, and
has been a WMI instructor for the past nine years. She first experienced wilderness medicine
by stumbling onto a Wilderness First Aid course in 1996 while working in the Arkansas
Valley as a guide.
“I was finishing nursing school, trying to escape the hospital world, and fell in love
with wilderness medicine,” she said. “I loved the application of medicine in the wilderness,
I loved the teaching style and, later, loved the way that improvisational medicine could
be applied where medicine and technology are not readily available.”
Glad also teaches WMI curriculum in Spanish in Chilean Patagonia and the Dominican Re-
public, where she worked in a clinic and taught local guides and teachers how to
respond to emergencies. “I was teaching the same curriculum, even though they lived in
the city, because there was such limited health care there,” she said. “I realized then how
effective it was, instead of taking care of people one at a time, to train others and multiply
my efforts. That fueled a desire to apply wilderness medicine to the developing world.”
When describing her overall experience and relationship with WMI, Glad appreciates
the multifaceted skills she has learned and used to teach others. “Working for WMI has
taught me to combine my hospital medical skills with the improvisation needed for search
and rescue, ski patrol, guiding, expedition medicine, and international work.”
EVIDENCE-BASED CURRICU
We pride ourselves on having a curriculum that is accurate, practical, and relevant, not only to
someone learning in a warm, dry classroom, but to the person providing care in the wilderness.

ACCURATE
At the Wilderness Medicine Institute we seek the latest medical research and
informed opinions to maintain the most current and accurate curriculum for
our students. The NOLS incident database, the largest and longest running
outdoor program dataset in the outdoor industry today, gives us a snapshot
of what medical incidents we are likely to encounter. Not only is the WMI
curriculum accurate, it is the most usable training available for people who
work and travel in remote locations.

WMI Curriculum Director

Tod Schimelpfenig

“I've gone through

training in the past as
a lifeguard, diver,
and environmental
engineer and I've
never had as good an
experience as I had
with WMI of NOLS.
There was never a
single moment dur-
ing the course of
that class that I
questioned weather
or not I was getting
literally the best
training available
in the US.”
– WEMT grad
September, 2004
 WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

ULUM
PRACTICAL
Would you put two people in a sleeping bag to treat hypothermia?
It doesn’t transfer as much heat as we might think; most patients are treated with dry
insulation, warm fluids and food, and allowed to shiver until they are warm.

Do you need to boil water for several minutes to disinfect it to drink?

No, the water only needs to come to a boil. The advice to boil water for 2–3 minutes,
or more, is conservative, unnecessary in most cases, and burns precious fuel.

What is the most common dislocation in the outdoors?

80% of backcountry dislocations involve the shoulder, a statistic familiar to river guides.
Our curriculum prepares you to manage these injuries by attempting reduction
or immobilization.

RELEVANT
It’s day 5 of a 12-day wilderness trip for teenagers in a western U.S. wilderness area.
The closest road is 12 miles away. You’re one of the trip leaders with current Wilderness
First Responder training. The patient is one of your participants. It is 8:30 a.m.
You have a 17-year-old male who is complaining of severe abdominal pain.
The patient’s tentmates woke you at 6:30 a.m. and said the patient had severe belly
pain. Patient states the pain began yesterday at 10:00 a.m. as “a bad belly ache,
cramping-like” but it is now “sharp.” He thought it was indigestion. It persisted all
night and became “really uncomfortable” at about 10:00 p.m. last night.
Would you stay or go?

Do you have the knowledge to decide

with confidence? To learn more go to
www.nols.edu/wmi/curriculum_updates.

Wilderness medicine certification is required

for a wide variety of outdoor jobs worldwide.
BUILDING A WILDERNESS M
CORE COURSE OFFERINGS
Wilderness EMT (180 hours)
This is the ultimate WMI experience. The WEMT
course is the most intensive combination of urban
and wilderness medicine training available. If you
seek National Registry EMT-Basic certification
along with WMI’s outstanding wilderness medicine
curriculum, this is the course for you. Our month-
long WEMT program includes classroom education,
ambulance-based medical practices, extensive
wilderness scenarios, and clinical rotations at
local hospitals. Many graduates use their WEMT
certification as a springboard to employment as
medical professionals in both urban and wilderness
environments. Firefighters, search and rescue
technicians, military operators, ski patrollers, and
ambulance teams all have raved about their WMI
WEMT training. College credit is available.
Wilderness First Responder (80 hours)
Pursuing a professional career in the outdoors? The
Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is for you.
Essential for outdoor professionals, the WFR course
will increase your medical knowledge, skills, and
confidence and make you an asset to any team.
Expect to complete your course with a newfound
ability to make tough medical decisions in remote
places. This 10-day course includes a compre-
hensive wilderness medicine curriculum that focuses
on extended care and unique wilderness therapies.
Our WFR course is pre-approved for 70 hours of
EMT CEUs, and college credit is available.
WFR Recertification (24 hours)
Time to recertify? Join us for a three-day scenario-
based course to review and practice evacuation
and decision-making guidelines for current WFRs.
Our dynamic, experienced instructors will refresh
you on current techniques, protocols, and contro-
versies in the wilderness medicine field. Our WFR
Recertification course is pre-approved for 18 hours
of EMT CEUs, and will also serve to recertify the
wilderness portion of current WEMTs.
 WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

MEDICINE FOUNDATION

Wilderness First Aid (16–24 hours)
Are you an outdoor enthusiast? Maybe you work at
a summer camp, or just love going hiking with
your friends and family. If you plan to spend time
in the backcountry you need to be prepared. Fast
paced and hands-on, this two- or three-day Wilder-
ness First Aid (WFA) course covers a wide range of
wilderness medicine topics for people who travel and
work in the outdoors. If you need this certification
professionally, you’ll also be happy to know it is
pre-approved by such organizations as the American
Camping Association, the United States Forest
Service, and other governmental agencies.
Wilderness Advanced First Aid (40 hours)
Need to find a course that’s longer than a WFA but
less than a WFR? River guides and certain trip
leading staff may be required to have a level of
training that falls in the middle. This five-day
Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) course
focuses on stabilization, treatment, and evacuation
guidelines for patients in backcountry environments.
More emphasis is placed on long-term patient care
management and specific injury evaluation. Those
who seek a more extensive refresher than the WFR
Recertification course may also use the WAFA for
recertification. Our WAFA course is pre-approved for
32 hours of EMT CEUs.

For course dates and locations, to learn more about college credit and scholarships, or
to sponsor a course, please visit us at www.nols.edu/wmi or call (866) 831-9001.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

EXPAND YOUR
MEDICAL HORIZONS
CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS
If you are already a medical professional and you want to challenge your “The scenarios were
medical skills in the realm of wilderness medicine, we have courses for the most fun and
educational for me.
you. These courses are specifically designed to help physicians, nurses,
They allowed me to
and EMTs apply their urban medical proficiency in remote settings where step outside the box
equipment is minimal and the ability to improvise is crucial. WMI will provide of the way I think at
you with the latest information on decision-making principles guiding work in a hospital
and use critical
wilderness treatment and evacuation decisions, as well as ample opportunity
thinking skills in
to apply your improvisation skills. a different way.”
– WUMP grad
Course Types: February 2008
• Wilderness Medicine Practices and Protocols (24 hours)
• Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals (48 hours)
• Medicine in the Wild (26-day medical student elective)

These activities have been planned and implemented in accordance with

the essential areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing
Medical Education (ACCME)
through joint sponsorship
of the Wilderness Medical
Society and the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS. Category 1 CMEs
are available.
Additionally our courses have been accredited through the Continuing
Education Coordinating Board for EMS (CECBEMS) to provide continuing
education for EMTs.
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

BECCA PARKER-JOHNSON
RESIDENT SURGEON
The Gila Wilderness provided WMI grad Becca Parker-Johnson a
backdrop to work with coursemates to transfer their urban medical
knowledge into backcountry practices. As a resident surgeon in
Seattle and graduate from Drexel University’s medical program,
Becca found her WMI training to be a valuable additional asset.
"[WMI’s] Medicine in the Wild was an excellent course at the
end of four years of medical school,” Becca said in the 2007 fall edition
of Wilderness Medicine magazine. “I had the chance to review
and adapt the practices that I'd learned, focus on the teamwork
skills that will make me a better resident and doctor, and think critically about how I learn
and teach. WMI has the best outdoor wilderness medicine program in the country.”
Becca had grown up loving NOLS “from afar” and inevitably discovered WMI when
she was looking to combine outdoor skills and medical training. She first came to WMI
in 2001 as a student on a Wilderness EMT course, later following up with the Wilderness
Upgrade for Medical Professionals course in 2003 and Medicine in the Wild in 2007.
“What keeps me coming back to WMI is that they can turn something extremely complex
into basic concepts that you can practice. They use the method of teaching and doing, which
has helped me to teach others,” she said. “The training I received from WMI is invaluable
because I gained the background knowledge to be an innovative problem-solver, as well
as the knowledge that helps in triage where I need to focus and prioritize.”
While Becca’s experience with WMI has added value to her professional career, it has
also benefited her in recreational pursuits. Of having to stabilize a dislocated finger during
a recent hiking venture, she said, “WMI provided me with the mental training that helped me
to stop and think about the situation, what I needed, and how to handle the problem.”
S P O N S O R P R O F I L E WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

KATHY FERRARO
RECREATION SUPERVISOR AT UCSC
The University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) has one of the
nation’s leading recreation programs and sponsors a variety of
WMI courses offered to students and members of the community.
UCSC’s Recreation Department and WMI began their part-
nership in 1996 when the university hired WMI to teach two
Wilderness First Aid (WFA) courses. Since then, the program has
grown and UCSC now offers three Wilderness First Responder
(WFR) courses, three WFR Recertification courses, and six WFA
courses through WMI. “The growth was slow in its beginnings,”
said Kathy Ferraro, UCSC’s Recreation Supervisor, “but the classes have been filling so
quickly with 25 to 30 students in each. WMI has been great to work with. We wanted an
organization that was nationally recognized and we really appreciate the opportunity to
host their classes. It has allowed hundreds of our staff over the years to get the necessary
training at affordable prices.”
Kathy is one of those staff members to benefit from the UCSC partnership with WMI,
having taken several WFA courses and a WFR course, which she states was an invaluable
educational experience. “WMI provides the kind of support and professionalism you can’t
trade in,” she said. “They’re outstanding.”
Kathy, who was formally a Red Cross instructor, remembers how her first experience
with WMI helped hone her skills and sees firsthand how it helps dozens of students every
year in the same way.
“The final night scenario in a WFR is so real because you’re dealing with major injuries
and having to evacuate the patient. It was a really powerful experience because you’re in
the moment,” she said, noting the importance of scenarios. “I’ve really appreciated WMI’s
use of scenarios as a teaching method because I am more engaged and learn more than
I would in a classroom.”
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

AROUND THE GLOBE

The Wilderness Medicine Institute offers approximately
500 courses each year in 35 different states and a wide
variety of international locations. To date, we have run courses
in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile,
Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Great Britain, Kenya,
Mexico, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Peru,
Uganda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, and
Tanzania. Students have received their WMI education
not only in English but also in Spanish, Swedish, and
Japanese. Additionally, WMI conducts courses regularly
on the continent of Australia with its peers in Swan Hill,
Victoria (www.wmi.net.au/wmi).
In 2007, historically known for its presence in the
western United States, WMI entered into a partnership
with Landmark Learning of Cullowhee, N.C. to provide
WMI’s wilderness medicine curriculum in the American
Southeast (www.landmarklearning.org). Founded in 1996
by Justin and Mairi Padgett, Landmark Learning provides
a wide range of rescue and medical training including
swiftwater rescue, wilderness lifeguarding, and EMT
courses in addition to a full range of wilderness medicine
training. In 2005, Landmark Learning created a Relief
Medic program that takes WFR and WEMT graduates to
South America to provide clinical coverage for under-
served villages in the Amazon Basin and Southern
Andes. During these 18-day programs, WMI graduates
get the chance to practice a wide range of wilderness Scandinavia (above) and Uganda
medicine in a truly remote setting. (below) are only two of many
international locations that have
hosted WMI courses.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE INSTITUTE • 866-831-9001 WWW.NOLS.EDU/WMI

WMI IN ACTION
Chris Nielsen, WMI Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician

“Last summer, I was fighting fire for the Bureau of Land Management in eastern Idaho. I
had the opportunity to spend 16 days with the Snake River Hotshots and also had the
opportunity to use my wilderness medical skills.
One of our sawyers had a snag strike him on the helmet. When I arrived on scene,
he was responsive, alert, and well-oriented (A&Ox4). I determined there was a definite
mechanism of injury for spinal injury, so I had another EMT control the patient’s spine.
We were many hiking hours away from an extraction point where a vehicle could reach
us and at least a half hour hike from a helicopter landing zone. I determined we were at
least one hour from definitive care, so I decided to perform a focused spinal assessment.
This assessment would allow me to make a reasoned decision on whether my patient
needed spine immobilization. If not, we could have him walk out rather than carrying
him. This approach would also save resources that were needed elsewhere on the fire.
The patient passed the focused spinal assessment and remained A&0x4; he was
sober and reliable; he had normal circulation, sensation, and
motion in all four extremeties with no distracting injuries;
and he denied spine pain or tenderness. We released
our control of the spine and slowly hiked to the
helispot for extraction. My knowledge and actions
permitted us to safely evacuate the patient without
requiring a very complicated, dangerous, and
expensive medevac.
That’s the first time I’ve ever been in a
situation where I was the most medically qualified
and everyone looked to me to make the final decision on
patient care. There was another EMT, but because of our
location, he deferred to my wilderness training.”

WEMT grad Chris Nielsen (right)

fights fires with the Bureau of
Land Management.
T H E L E A D E R I N W I L D E R N E S S M E D I C I N E E DUCATION

The Wilderness Medicine

Institute of NOLS
284 Lincoln Street
Lander, WY 82520-2848
www.nols.edu/wmi • wmi@nols.edu
(866) 831-9001

Photos front cover: David Anderson (top) and Shana Tarter (bottom)
Photos back cover: Kevin Kerr (top) and Brad Christensen (bottom)