There's no such thing as a 1 day EMT course. I took a W-EMT (Wilderness EMT course) in Jackson Wyoming. It started just before Thanksgiving and ended just before Christmas. It was an EMT course that also shows you how to modify various protocols for the backcountry environment.

You can find normal EMT courses all over So Cal. They are about 300 hours or so of training.

If you are looking for wilderness medical training the most common one that outdoor professionals get is the Wilderness First Responder. It is about 90 hours of instruction over about 10 days.

If that's too much time you can find Wilderness First Air Courses that are less time. Check Wilderness Medicine Institute for their offerings. They take place all over the west coast. This is just one of several companies that offer quality wilderness medicine training.

I just did the Advanced First Aid course with Wilderness Medical Associates - 4 days - 36 hours in Idyllwild.
They also offer a two day course - but the four day course was worth every penny. Best thing I ever did.

http://www.wildmed.com/

A great 3 day course ....
wildernessfirstaidcourse.org

They used to do a one day intro course but haven't in a couple of years.

Gary Schenk wrote:I've taken a couple of wilderness first aid courses. I learned two things:

1. Don't get hurt in the wilderness.
2. I now know why you're going to die, I just can't do anything about it.

Last month I took a two day wilderness first aid class in Santa Cruz from WMI. I think the above sentiment is true to a certain extent, but I still found the class very useful. It's difficult in such a short class to spend much time on how to treat stuff -- I feel like I could use more practice on how to deal with a broken limb or dislocated finger for instance. Also, if you want CPR it's not covered. The primary benefit is knowing the basics of evaluating and stabilizing the patient and making good decisions. I also think a bit of training is useful in keeping your head in a stressful situation.

To the OP - PM me if you want to know the full syllabus.[/i]

justing wrote:

Gary Schenk wrote:I've taken a couple of wilderness first aid courses. I learned two things:

1. Don't get hurt in the wilderness.
2. I now know why you're going to die, I just can't do anything about it.

Last month I took a two day wilderness first aid class in Santa Cruz from WMI. I think the above sentiment is true to a certain extent, but I still found the class very useful. It's difficult in such a short class to spend much time on how to treat stuff -- I feel like I could use more practice on how to deal with a broken limb or dislocated finger for instance. Also, if you want CPR it's not covered. The primary benefit is knowing the basics of evaluating and stabilizing the patient and making good decisions. I also think a bit of training is useful in keeping your head in a stressful situation.

To the OP - PM me if you want to know the full syllabus.[/i]

Trust me, good decision making is an intrinsic skill, not one that can be taught.

Deal with a broken limb? Attach something rigid.

Dislocated bone? Splint in place, or if necessary retract with force and allow it to settle naturally.

2 day wilderness FA class, complete.

alleyehave wrote:

justing wrote:

Gary Schenk wrote:I've taken a couple of wilderness first aid courses. I learned two things:

1. Don't get hurt in the wilderness.
2. I now know why you're going to die, I just can't do anything about it.

Last month I took a two day wilderness first aid class in Santa Cruz from WMI. I think the above sentiment is true to a certain extent, but I still found the class very useful. It's difficult in such a short class to spend much time on how to treat stuff -- I feel like I could use more practice on how to deal with a broken limb or dislocated finger for instance. Also, if you want CPR it's not covered. The primary benefit is knowing the basics of evaluating and stabilizing the patient and making good decisions. I also think a bit of training is useful in keeping your head in a stressful situation.

To the OP - PM me if you want to know the full syllabus.[/i]

Trust me, good decision making is an intrinsic skill, not one that can be taught.

Deal with a broken limb? Attach something rigid.

Dislocated bone? Splint in place, or if necessary retract with force and allow it to settle naturally.

2 day wilderness FA class, complete.

True, but sometimes you need information to make a decision, unless you're George W. Bush. What information? How to interpret that information? I admit to not knowing the answers to those questions, and I found the course useful for that.

And I hope no one actually thinks this is all you need to know to put a dislocated joint back in place. You could seriously f--- someone's shoulder up if done improperly. I also found useful some of the nuances to improvising a splint for a broken bone useful. Stuff I wouldn't have thought of like putting something behind the knee to keep it from locking, or that you should try to realign the broken bone if possible. If you already knew about that stuff then good for you.

justing wrote:

alleyehave wrote:

justing wrote:

Gary Schenk wrote:I've taken a couple of wilderness first aid courses. I learned two things:

1. Don't get hurt in the wilderness.
2. I now know why you're going to die, I just can't do anything about it.

Last month I took a two day wilderness first aid class in Santa Cruz from WMI. I think the above sentiment is true to a certain extent, but I still found the class very useful. It's difficult in such a short class to spend much time on how to treat stuff -- I feel like I could use more practice on how to deal with a broken limb or dislocated finger for instance. Also, if you want CPR it's not covered. The primary benefit is knowing the basics of evaluating and stabilizing the patient and making good decisions. I also think a bit of training is useful in keeping your head in a stressful situation.

To the OP - PM me if you want to know the full syllabus.[/i]

Trust me, good decision making is an intrinsic skill, not one that can be taught.

Deal with a broken limb? Attach something rigid.

Dislocated bone? Splint in place, or if necessary retract with force and allow it to settle naturally.

2 day wilderness FA class, complete.

True, but sometimes you need information to make a decision, unless you're George W. Bush. What information? How to interpret that information? I admit to not knowing the answers to those questions, and I found the course useful for that.

And I hope no one actually thinks this is all you need to know to put a dislocated joint back in place. You could seriously f--- someone's shoulder up if done improperly. I also found useful some of the nuances to improvising a splint for a broken bone useful. Stuff I wouldn't have thought of like putting something behind the knee to keep it from locking, or that you should try to realign the broken bone if possible. If you already knew about that stuff then good for you.

I wouldn't be going around reducing dislocations and fractures for fun simply because the bone is broken or the joint is dislocated. If circulation or sensory is compromised then yes...but I don't think any two day class is adequate in teaching how to assess that, let alone the risk/benefit to reducing those types of injuries, sorry. Stick to the basics, a wooden stick and a PLB are still your best friends.

Personally I found the WFR course, very interesting and not just common sense as some people allude. Not only fractures and disclocations of course, asthma, diabetes, environmental injuries etc.

radson wrote:Personally I found the WFR course, very interesting and not just common sense as some people allude. Not only fractures and disclocations of course, asthma, diabetes, environmental injuries etc.

I'm not sure how you properly treat asthma, or even real diabetic emergencies in the wilderness without o2/breathing treatment, d50/iv, or glucagon for that matter...but more power to ya...

alleyehave wrote:

radson wrote:Personally I found the WFR course, very interesting and not just common sense as some people allude. Not only fractures and disclocations of course, asthma, diabetes, environmental injuries etc.

I'm not sure how you properly treat asthma, or even real diabetic emergencies in the wilderness without o2/breathing treatment, d50/iv, or glucagon for that matter...but more power to ya...

There is a lot your can't "treat properly" outside of a hospital. Urban environment is very different from the mountains - you do what you can and yes, there are protocols for treating asthma, and no, one usually won't be carrying an o2 tank (other than Everest) or starting IVs in the backcountry. If you do... more power to ya.

alleyehave wrote:

radson wrote:Personally I found the WFR course, very interesting and not just common sense as some people allude. Not only fractures and disclocations of course, asthma, diabetes, environmental injuries etc.

I'm not sure how you properly treat asthma, or even real diabetic emergencies in the wilderness without o2/breathing treatment, d50/iv, or glucagon for that matter...but more power to ya...

So whats your recommendation alleyhave? to remain as ignorant as possible?

radson wrote:

alleyehave wrote:

radson wrote:Personally I found the WFR course, very interesting and not just common sense as some people allude. Not only fractures and disclocations of course, asthma, diabetes, environmental injuries etc.

I'm not sure how you properly treat asthma, or even real diabetic emergencies in the wilderness without o2/breathing treatment, d50/iv, or glucagon for that matter...but more power to ya...

So whats your recommendation alleyhave? to remain as ignorant as possible?

I'm not dogging on the programs, but to assume you can adequately treat these issues in the backcountry is misleading and an unsafe attitude. Bottom line, the course still outlines common sense measures and if you need a 2 day class to reinforce that approach, then awesome. Just don't go reducing dislocations because a 15 minute briefing on it "dialed you in".

alleyehave wrote:I'm not dogging on the programs, but to assume you can adequately treat these issues in the backcountry is misleading and an unsafe attitude.

Ah, then I guess I'll save my time and dollars and forget about it.