Wilderness Medicine Curricula in US Multidisciplinary Training Courses

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Wilderness Medicine Training

Background:

• Wilderness medicine (WM) involves medical care in austere environments.
• Multiple US multidisciplinary courses offer WM training to diverse medical professionals.
• Existing WM courses present varying degrees of topic coverage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the components of Wilderness Medicine (WM) across various US multidisciplinary training courses.
• To analyze the extent to which different courses cover essential WM topics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 19-component curriculum of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) WM fellowship and the Fellowship of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) competencies (12 core, 16 elective) as control lists.
• Analyzed curricula from 10 US multidisciplinary courses for WM components.
• Employed descriptive analysis to compare each course's curriculum against the established control lists.

Main Results:

• The Paramedic course covered the most ACEP WM topics (14/19), while the Tactical Combat Casualty Care-Combat Lifesaver course covered the fewest (4/19).
• The Paramedic course offered the highest FAWM core credits (56) and elective credits (83), contrasted with the Tactical Combat Casualty Care-Medical Personnel (24 core) and Tactical Combat Casualty Care-Combat Lifesaver (25 elective) courses.
• Significant variation exists in the number of WM components and credits offered by different courses.

Conclusions:

• US multidisciplinary WM courses exhibit considerable variation in topic coverage and credit distribution.
• There is a clear opportunity for these courses to expand their WM education offerings.
• The study identifies specific competencies offered by various courses, aiding prospective trainees in course selection.