NCOAE Blog

Coming off a four-year stint as coordinator for a university outdoor recreation program, J.T. Schexnayder III is proving to be a masterful leader as our outdoor program coordinator. Raised in Myrtle Beach, S.C., this neighboring state native led his middle school peers on backpacking, climbing, caving and paddleboard expeditions to backcountry areas in his home state, as well as other excursions to Colorado and Wyoming.

Before joining us here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), J.T. organized student expeditions for the University of Georgia from 2021 to 2025. Before that, he brought the outdoors into his six- through eighth-grade classes in South Carolina and Wyoming. When school broke for summer, he would head to Highlands Presbyterian Camp and Retreat Center in Allenspark, Colorado, where as the Adventure Camp director, he supervised and guided climbing, hiking, and outdoor leadership programs as camp director.

Our new program director (he joined our team in June of 2025) received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2018 from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, with a major in American History. Following that, J.T. received a Master of Science in Forestry and Natural Resources (major in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management) in 2025 from the University of Georgia (Athens, GA).

As an outdoor educator, J.T. is a member of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE), as well as the Association for Experiential Education (AEE). He holds certifications in Wilderness First Responder (WFR), CPR/AED and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA).

We asked J.T. to respond to a few questions about himself and his career, and he graciously agreed: (more…)

Bleary eyed from a scarcity of shuteye, you shimmy out of your sleeping bag, stick your head out your tent flap, and observe your campsite. It’s not a pretty picture. In fact, it looks like you woke up in the middle of a yard sale. Or the tail end of a party turned bad.

There’s gear spread out everywhere, a tarp blown up against a tree, protein bar wrappers discarded by hungry racoons. And now it’s time to pay the piper for last night’s decision for selecting and setting up a terrible campsite.

It happens. Sometimes it’s due to unpredictable weather, poor planning, inexperience, or just bad decision making. Fortunately, you can take steps to reduce its frequency. This post explains how, but first, let’s look into the importance of even having a quality campsite.

What’s the Big Deal Over Selecting and Setting Up a Quality Campsite?

Campsite selection, setup, and management aren’t always a top priority. It’s something we outdoor adventurers often do “on the fly,” when the need arises. However, the more thought and planning you put into it, the safer and more enjoyable your camping experience will be.

When contemplating the construct of a up quality campsite, you might want to consider the following factors:

• Safety: Providing protection from the weather and its effects, as well as from natural and human elements and neighboring campers ensures you’re not posing a risk to anyone’s safety.
• Comfort: You need to seek a sheltered area with a patch of soft, level ground to sleep on and an area where you can eat your meals in comfort.
• Efficiency: You should have enough room to organize your food and gear for convenience, and you want easy access to water and places to use the toilet and wash your dishes.
• Ecology: You want a campsite that’s conducive to practicing Leave No Trace (LNT) Principles. For example, try to find an established campsite instead of one that requires clearing vegetation.

Including Campsite Selection in Your Trip Planning

The process of choosing and setting up a proper campsite in a quality location should begin well before you embark on your backcountry adventure. During our pre-trip meetings with groups or during training sessions, we always talk about what makes a good campsite and important factors we need to consider before choosing sites.

When planning a trip and thinking about where you will spend the night, take the following factors into consideration: (more…)

Recently I watched “Heritage,” a short documentary about one of the early professional skateboarders, Steve Caballero. At some point in the viewing, I realized more time was being spent on Steve’s mountain biking skills and passion for motorcross than on his skateboarding career, and I had to wonder why. 

If you’ve been a whitewater paddler, a climber, a surfer, or a skateboarder all your life, why would you want to try something new? You’ve proven yourself. You’re an expert. Why risk failure?

It occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, Steve wanted to experience the feeling of  improve at something new rather than watch his skateboarding skills plateau or, worse, decline. After all, progression is a lot more fun than regression. Sure, you might suck at it when you’re getting started, but the sky’s the limit in terms of potential for improvement.

So, in the spirit of sucking at something new, let’s dive into novice experiences and what we gain from trying something new.

What I Chose to Suck at

I’ve been a surfer all my life. I’ve ridden massive waves all around the world and was good at it. When I moved away from the ocean, I wasn’t able to get in as much surf time as I wanted, so I started whitewater kayaking. I never got to be an amazing whitewater kayaker, but I ran some big rapids, explored remote creeks, and progressed as far as I had expected. 

Knowing I wasn’t going to get much better at kayaking and knowing I was not surfing as much as I wanted to, I decided to try whitewater stand-up paddleboarding (SUP). At the time, I didn’t know anyone doing (more…)

In the backcountry, where hospitals are likely many miles away and help isn’t “just around the corner,” airway management becomes a high-stakes priority. After all, the statistics are against the patient. Without an open, clear airway, that patient has a zero percent chance of survival.

Whether it’s a fall, an allergic reaction, choking, or a drowning, keeping the airway open is a life and death proposition. Wilderness medicine demands quick thinking, decisive action, and a solid grasp of airway basics, because you’re the first, and perhaps only, responder.

This post brings you up to speed on airway management basics with a focus of first employing the simplest and least invasive methods for opening the airway.

What Is the Airway?

The airway is a tunnel connecting the mouth and nose to the lungs. It ends at the alveoli, which are the tiny air sacs in the lungs that facilitate the exchange of gases, primarily oxygen and carbon dioxide. As long as this tunnel remains open, a person can breathe. If the tunnel collapses or is blocked at any point, breathing ceases or is restricted to some degree.

Healthy humans maintain an open airway by holding their head upright, swallowing their secretions, controlling their tongue, coughing, spitting, and otherwise emptying the tunnel of everything but air. Whenever the airway collapses due to illness or injury or is blocked by solids or liquids “going down the wrong pipe” and getting stuck there, medical intervention is required. That’s where you, the emergency medical technician (EMT), or someone else who’s received the relevant training, must step in to clear the airway.

The interventions used by the EMT can be divided into Basic (simpler and less invasive) and Advanced (more complex and invasive).

Basic Methods for Clearing the Airway

When someone can’t breathe or is struggling to do so, you should use the simplest, least intrusive method necessary to open the airway. Basic methods include the following: (more…)

In a recent CNN article by Rebecca Cairns and London-based photographer Zed Nelson, the reader is invited to reflect on how we interact with nature, and how much of that “nature” is staged. Nelson’s project, The Anthropocene Illusion, takes viewers on a global journey to see the ways we simulate wild places and wildlife while often turning away from the real thing. 

Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), this type of exploration resonates deeply with the part of our mission that speaks to inspiring stewardship and facilitating authentic experiences in the natural world.

Nelson’s photographs, which are featured in Cairnes article, capture everything from artificial safari parks to lion farms in South Africa, revealing the uneasy truth about how human-made versions of nature have sadly become commonplace. As Cairns writes:

“We’re creating an illusion for ourselves… a stage-managed version of nature where we feel we’re connecting with the natural world, but we’re not.”

Our own observations echo this. We surround ourselves with nature-themed decor ranging from beach-printed bedcovers to desktop wallpapers, all offering a fleeting sense of connection. Yet these are safe, convenient stand-ins that avoid the friction of mud, insects, unpredictable weather, and the physical challenge of being outdoors. Over time, this can (more…)

Batteries die. Cell phones lose connectivity. Even satellite service can be unpredictable. But a map and compass? You can always count on these two “old schools” tools to discover where you are and how to get to where you’re going. 

Truth is, navigating with a tried and true map and compass is an essential outdoor skill. Real explorers don’t ask Apple Maps or Google Maps for directions!

In this post, I bring you up to speed on the basics of using a map and compass in the backcountry. Here’s what you need to know:

Start with a Detailed Topographical Map

The first step is to obtain a map. If all you’re planning to do is hike well-established paths in a park, a basic trail map is all you really need. However, when you’re traveling off-road and off-path, you should have a topographical map. A topographic map shows the physical features of the land, especially its shape and elevation, as shown below.

A topographical map is one of the most useful tools for wilderness navigation because it helps you visualize the terrain before you ever set foot on it. 

Free Topo Maps: If you’re traveling in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey offers free topographical maps you can download to print at US Topo. Another option is to purchase a gazetteer (a geographical “directory”) for each state in which you’re planning to travel.

Once you have your map and before you begin your backcountry or wilderness expedition, open it and familiarize yourself with its features: (more…)

Backcountry and wilderness expeditions and daytrips can be a blast! One minute you’re  stimulated by the views and having fun, and in some instances, the next minute you’re on the ground after tripping on a rock, asking yourself, “Where did all that blood come from?”

Having the right medical supplies can turn a potential disaster into just another compelling campfire story. The question is, what medical supplies are the right ones? What items should you carry in your adventure-based first aid kit? What do you need and what can you do without?

The answers to those questions are elusive, and for good reason; they vary based on several factors, including the following:

• The terrain you plan to traverse (forest, mountains, wetlands, etc.)
• The activities you’ll engage in (hiking, climbing, kayaking, etc.)
• Group size and composition (for example, if someone in your party has a history of bleeding or suffers severe allergic reactions)
• Trip length (time and distance)

In this post, I provide some general guidance on what items to include in your first aid kit, along with other points to ponder as you plan ahead for unexpected injuries and illnesses.

First Aid Kit or Boo Boo Bag?

The first decision you need to make is whether you’re packing a lifesaving focused first aid kit or a boo boo bag: (more…)

There it is, middle fingers up, people screaming at one another, animals running amok. It’s just another day on the trails lost to behaviors that are normally reserved for Los Angeles traffic.

It doesn’t need to be this way.

So long as everyone’s aware of the rules and then follows them, hikers, bicyclists, horses, and dogs can share the trails in peaceful harmony.

All of us should have access, as well as the right, to enjoy trails designated as multi-purpose. Open access is great. And, of course, the more access we provide to people who engage in diverse outdoor activities, the more money is available to maintain and expand trails, and the more voices we have to ensure that trails remain intact.

Yes, access for many is great for everyone until it isn’t. I have witnessed abominable behaviors — physical fights, trash talking, and worse — in my time on trails. More often than not, one or all of the guilty parties were at fault, usually because they weren’t cautious, didn’t know or practice proper trail etiquette, or lacked the skills to behave with a modicum of courtesy and civility.

In this post, I bring you up to speed on the rules and best practices that can make everyone’s time on trails more enjoyable.

Follow the Sign

Whenever you’re out on a trail, you’re wise to follow the signs, and I’m not just talking about trail markers. Here’s a sign that serves as a great visual for remembering who yields to whom on multi-use trails.

Here’s what it means:

• Bicyclists yield to hikers.
• Motor vehicles yield to hikers and bicyclists.
• Everyone yields to horses.

Easy. Right?

Among the things that make sharing trails and right of ways on trails difficult is that everyone on the trails is in motion. Hikers are moving at around three miles an hour. Cyclists commonly travel at speeds ranging from 10 to 30 miles an hour. Those on e-bikes are often hustling along in excess of 40 miles an hour. And horses typically walk, trot, or canter at speeds ranging from four to 15 miles an hour. These differences in speeds can lead to potentially dangerous encounters, which, in turn, can trigger fear or frustration. Either of those emotions can quickly turn to anger.

Many trail users think of trails as being (more…)

Language provides a foundation for human progress. Having a common language enables us to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate our efforts in able us to achieve more together than any of us could possibly achieve on our own. It allows us to organize our thoughts and solve problems collectively.

It’s when we’re not speaking the same language, or we have a different understanding of the terminology being used, that chaos ensues. Take NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter (aka Mars Surveyor ’98 Orbiter), for example. Launched on December 11, 1998, the spacecraft was lost because NASA used the International System of Units (metric), while the company that built the spacecraft, Lockheed Martin, used the United States customary units (imperial). That simple miscommunication caused the Mars Climate Orbiter to enter the Martian atmosphere on September 23, 1999, at the wrong angle and disintegrate.

As practitioners of wilderness medicine, outdoor educators and others can learn valuable lessons from that story. After all, successful treatment outcomes often require close communication, collaboration, and coordination among treatment providers. Having a different understanding of the same terminology can result in serious negative consequences. This is especially true in life-threatening situations where the space between life and death can be as narrow as a razor’s edge. In these situations, using a common language can save lives.

In this post, we explore wilderness medicine terminology that’s a common source of misunderstandings. By increasing your awareness of how these terms are often used and understood, you can ensure that you and other members of the treatment team are communicating clearly and precisely.

Recognizing Terms That Can Be a Source of Confusion

Communication is so important that EMT textbooks often include an entire chapter or appendix on medical terminology. These terms and their definitions ensure clarity on everything from (more…)

We live in a world increasingly dominated by social media, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. So, when it comes to backcountry and wilderness expeditions, participants of all ages have an opportunity to learn and grow in fun, challenging real-world settings. 

Whether navigating rugged terrain, setting up a tent, or preparing a meal without the aid of modern appliances, participants in guided outdoor adventures are required to think critically, adapt quickly, reflect deeply, and collaborate closely with others. In this post, I explore how backcountry adventures serve as powerful catalysts for personal growth, leadership development, and environmental awareness.

Here at The National Center for Outdoor Adventure and Education (NCOAE), we offer guided outdoor expeditions that focus on creating profoundly empowering experiences for everyone involved. In the backdrop of a wilderness setting, we encourage participants —students on a summer teen leadership expedition or adults on one of our 21-day adult leadership expeditions — to challenge themselves to grow and expand upon their critical thinking, teamwork, and technical outdoor skills.

Most of our first-time participants have little to no experience in the backcountry, and that’s why our objective is not to turn them into avid backpackers, rock climbers, or paddlers. While our adventures often spark a new passion for these activities, our goal is to use the backcountry as a classroom that facilitates learning and personal or professional growth. 

Outdoor and adventure-based experiential education in the backcountry enables our course participants to learn, grow, and build self-confidence. And they do this by: (more…)

According to some emergency medical professionals, including one of my early mentors, every emergency medical service (EMS) call involves a search. Even in urban settings where we’re given a home address for a patient, we need to confirm the location, find it, and gain access to the patient. And even after arriving at the right address, finding and gaining access to the patient within the home or building can be a challenge.

As a current or future Wilderness Medicine Care Provider, you may be called upon to provide care in diverse environments under a variety of circumstances — and you need to be prepared to do so. One of the environments we train for here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) is the backcountry, more commonly referred to as the wilderness.

Wilderness medicine encompasses a broad range of scenarios, ranging from the simple treatment of basic cuts, scrapes, blisters, and bruises, to conducting complex search and rescue operations in remote areas, in dangerous weather conditions and across challenging terrain. 

Patients are often those within an activity group or in a group nearby, but sometimes the incoming call notifies us of a problem in a remote, unclear location. In such cases, we need to find the patient before we can treat the patient, and in many cases, we need to move distressed individuals or parties to safety. 

In this post, I bring you up to speed on the fundamentals of conducting search and rescue in diverse environments and unpredictable circumstances.

Defining Search and Rescue (SAR)

Wilderness medicine includes some complex and challenging diagnostic and treatment procedures. SAR adds another layer of complexity to make it even more challenging. To gain a better understanding of the challenges, consider what each of these tasks involves: (more…)

Last September, we told you we were seeking accreditation from a trio of the nation’s top accrediting bodies: the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), and the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC).

And today, we’re pleased to share that Cognia — the parent organization of the above-mentioned agencies — has officially granted The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) full accreditation status. This is a huge milestone for us, and even more so for the students and families we serve.

What Cognia Accreditation Means for NCOAE Students and Partners

This recognition confirms that NCOAE meets Cognia’s rigorous performance standards, which are the same standards applied to traditional schools, education service providers, and school districts across the country and around the world. More important, it means that students who complete select NCOAE programs — including our High School Summer Block-Semester — may now be eligible to earn and transfer academic credit to their high school.

We’ve always believed that wilderness and the backcountry is a powerful classroom. Now, it’s also an accredited one. 

Why Cognia Accreditation Matters

Cognia is a globally respected nonprofit that accredits more than 36,000 schools and education providers in over 90 countries. Through its regional agencies, Cognia is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Its rigorous evaluation process ensures that institutions like ours deliver high-quality, student-centered learning.

By earning this accreditation, NCOAE: (more…)

Chances are good that you’ve had to take at least one course in English composition that required you to write a 500-word essay entitled, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Most teens talk about their vacation or their summer job, but you can talk about leadership activities for teens.

Perhaps you had the best summer ever and found yourself struggling to limit your prose to a paltry 500 words. However,  most students have trouble finding enough verbosity to attain the required verbiage. 

Don’t let that happen to you. You can make this summer the one you’ll never forget!

Explore the outdoors while building your technical outdoor skills on a Teen Leadership Expedition this summer with us here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE).

For 2025, we are offering several 14-day summer camp courses designed specifically as teen leadership activities. Based in Alaska, North Carolina, and the Pacific Northwest, these guided expeditions offer the perfect blend of outdoor adventure, hands-on experiential education, camaraderie, and fun in some of the most awesome wilderness settings in the United States!

Our 14-day teen expeditions feature a ton of adventure, with exciting outdoor activities that include backpacking, mountaineering, trekking, and rock climbing — not to mention paddling activities like canoeing, kayaking, or whitewater rafting.

Here’s what you should know about each destination and course, starting with our two-week Alaska Teen Leadership Expedition. (more…)

Wilderness medicine covers an enormous area of study and practice. From anaphylaxis to zoonotic diseases, it covers a lot of glossary. From deep-water diving to high-altitude mountaineering, it covers a lot of territory including oxygen deprivation.

In this post about wilderness medicine, we focus on four terms in that glossary to which every outdoor educator and backcountry/wilderness guide should be aware:

Oxygen is a gas comprised of two oxygen molecules bound together (O2), that’s essential for the survival of most earthly lifeforms. You can live without food for several weeks, without water for several days, but only a few minutes without oxygen.

Atmosphere is the gaseous mass that surrounds a celestial body like Earth. Earth’s atmosphere is composed of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent argon, and 0.04 percent carbon dioxide, along with trace amounts of other gases and variable water vapor. This gaseous “envelope” is divided into layers ranging from the troposphere to the thermosphere, with the percentage of oxygen remaining the same in each of those layers. (more…)

Little in the wilderness experience quite compares to sitting around a warm campfire after a day on the trail. Crackling embers, shimmering luminescence, and radiant warmth have an almost primal attraction. 

When you take advantage of our teen leadership expeditions, adult leadership expeditions, or our high school summer semester, you’ll experience many campfires.

Whether you’re toasting marshmallows, sharing stories, debriefing the day’s group-based activities, or simply gazing into the glow, a campfire creates an intimate connection to nature, to others, and to oneself.

For those of us who work in outdoor education and adventure-based programming, the impact of a campfire on our students must include consideration of the environmental impact of these moon-lit activities. In this blog post, we explore why people are so drawn to campfires and then we share tips on how to enjoy them without leaving a lasting trace.

Appreciating the Appeal of Campfires

People are naturally drawn to campfires, and for good reason — actually several good reasons. Here are some of the qualities that make campfires so alluring (more…)

In the movie Die Hard 2, hero John McLane, played by Bruce Willis, receives a fax at a car rental kiosk at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. informing him of the identity of a suspect. The agent behind the desk, who’s been flirting with McLane through the entire scene, says, “Hey, I close in about an hour. Maybe we can go get a drink?” McLane smiles coyly, points to the wedding ring on his finger, and replies, “Just the fax, ma’am. Just the fax.”

McLane’s line is a reference to the old TV show Dragnet, where the main character, Sgt. Joe Friday, would remind rambling or opiniated witnesses to stick to the facts by saying, “Just the facts, ma’am [or sir]. Just the facts.” That straight-forward statement can serve as a reminder for wilderness medicine providers when we’re responding to accidents or emergencies in remote settings. 

In wilderness emergency medicine, collecting and reporting the facts can determine the difference between a positive and a negative outcome, or even between life and death. 

Recognizing the Challenges of Reporting Accurate Information in Wilderness Medicine

In wilderness settings, the potential for communicating inaccurate information increases due to several factors, including distance, time lags, layers of patient care providers, and unreliable communication channels, including the absence of cell phone connectivity. First responders frequently face the daunting task of gathering information from people in stressful situations under challenging and changing conditions. In our wilderness medicine course, we teach about the importance of accurate information.

In addition, location information can be difficult to obtain and communicate. Even in an urban setting, first responders can have trouble distinguishing between similarly named roads, such as Bear Hollow Lane and Bear Hollow Road, or roads that have multiple names. In the wilderness, determining and communicating a specific location becomes even more challenging when certain ridges, pitches of a rock climb, or similarly named streams come into play.

Providing accurate and comprehensive information is important for several reasons, including the following: (more…)

Covered in mud, we return to the sterile walls of the school. Nearby, students and teachers stop and stare at us. We say nothing. We keep moving, exhausted from our time spent in the wilderness, observing, interacting, developing skills to survive, absorbing information and processing the incredible time we had spent as a group.

What we experienced together as a class is a far cry from what most students find in a traditional educational setting. In that scenario, a teacher lectures from a lesson plan they wrote a decade ago or downloaded online. Students stare out the window, whisper to each another about things unrelated to subject matter, or they concentrate on their rectangular cell phones. Somebody might look up and ask whether what the teacher is saying will be on the test. Curriculum standards have changed little, nor has the teacher’s approach. 

Taking a Critical Look at Traditional Education

Education in many schools can be so mundane to the point of stifling inspiration and creativity. It happened to me and it created obstacles to my learning and personal development. It even led to some unfortunate behavioral incidents I’d rather not discuss.

Didactic learning, more commonly known as (more…)

Over the past couple of decades, outdoor adventure enthusiasts have developed a growing obsession with speed — fastest climber (ascent/descent), fastest cyclist, fastest downhill skier or snowboarder, fastest BASE jumper. Fastest, fastest, fastest. 

Whether you actively compete in one or more of these categories or prefer a less competitive approach to human-powered outdoor activities, you’re at risk of getting swept up in the accelerating pace of everything in the world outdoor adventure, including fashion. Specifically, fast fashion.

Yes, fast fashion and stylish outdoor gear is a thing, and it’s creeping into the world of technical outdoor apparel, threatening the values of the outdoor education and adventure programming community’s Leave No Trace (LNT) culture. It’s a trend we must resist, and dare I suggest, reverse.

What Is Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion is the mass production of inexpensive clothing, aggressively marketed and pushed out to consumers as quickly as possible to capitalize on ever-changing trends. Sometimes, a simple change in color, texture, or cut is enough to trigger a new trend. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Often, products that hit store shelves or online retailers appear well-made, with quality and longevity in mind. But when put to even the most basic tests, their flaws quickly become apparent. Since many consumers are willing to overlook poor quality in their pursuit of trendy, bargain-priced clothing, the cycle continues.

What most people don’t see are the hidden costs to the environment, to the workers making these products, and to the communities where they’re manufactured. According to the report Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula (PDF): (more…)

In the safety and comfort of the modern world, we often forget that the natural world can be a dangerous, unforgiving, and uncaring place. For many of us who love wilderness and the backcountry, that’s large part of its attraction. 

We choose to explore areas where some fear to go,  and we participate in activities that may straddle the line between the safe and perilous. But we do so, backed by best practices and training in wilderness risk management.

Mountaineering, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting can be dangerous undertakings, but even a leisurely hike through the backcountry carries risk. Wilderness emergency examples include entering an area teaming with unpredictable wildlife, crossing paths with a venomous snake, getting swept up in a flash flood, or encountering other unpredictable dangers.

Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we take many precautions to mitigate the risks. Education, training, planning, and preparation can all limit the risk of injuries and preventable illnesses, and wilderness medicine training can help mitigate the fallout when injuries and illnesses do occur in remote settings. 

But when we venture out into wilderness and engage in extreme activities, accidents can and do happen, sometimes the result of life-ending episodes. Unfortunately, we need to be prepared for that, too.

Gauging the Risk of Fatality

A quick check of the American Alpine Club’s periodical Accidents in North America Climbing shows that of 8,000-plus accidents covered over the more than 75 years the club has been gathering data, more than (more…)

Most people think of wilderness medicine as providing medical care in a remote setting where access to conventional healthcare resources is limited or unavailable. They imagine someone treating a wound, applying a tourniquet, performing CPR, or fashioning a splint out of sticks and a bandana enabling a hiker with a broken leg to hobble to safety. 

Few rarely consider the role of wilderness medicine in mass casualty events such as earthquakes, flash floods, wildfires, and other natural and manufactured disasters. These incidences result in multiple injuries that can overwhelm the resources available to treat the injured.

In the context of a mass casualty event, wilderness medicine providers fill all their traditional roles — caring for the injured and improvising to overcome the lack of medical equipment and supplies. However, their role often expands in scope as they face the challenges of assisting multiple patients at the same time suffering from diverse injuries. 

Meeting this challenge requires knowledge of the system and resources available, along with an ability think and act quickly and rationally in order to triage patients. That means  sorting and prioritizing patients on larger scale, based on the severity and urgency of their medical needs — again in the context of available resources.

Defining “Mass Casualty Incident”

A mass casualty incident (MCI) is any (more…)