May 2024

In wilderness medicine, the traditional response to a potential spinal injury has emphasized immobilizing the patient to prevent further injury. To this end, emergency responders have been trained to use advanced immobilization techniques and equipment, such as rigid cervical collars and spinal boards in conjunction with manual stabilization. 

And while nobody educated in emergency medicine would argue against the importance of motion restriction, the priority is shifting as doctors and emergency personnel consider it in the larger context of overall patient health and safety.

Given the importance of the spine in a person’s overall health, the focus on immobilizing patients with suspected spinal injury is no surprise. The spine protects the spinal cord, which functions like a fiber-optic network to carry signals throughout the body to and from the brain. Interruptions in the continuity of the spinal cord can dramatically impact a person’s ability to move and to interpret and interact with the world.

However, over the last few decades, the medical community has acquired a vast body of evidence concerning care for a person with an obvious or potential spinal injury. As a result, recent years have seen a significant shift in thinking on this subject. The conversation regarding the extent to which a spinal injury is impacted by subsequent treatment and transport has evolved into a rather heated debate that’s (more…)

Shortly after graduating from The National Center for Outdoor and Adventure Education’s Intensive Hybrid EMT course, Will Newman began working for Pender EMS and Fire in Burgaw, North Carolina, as an EMT. He recently completed orientation and is eager to serve the rural communities of Pender County as a medical provider.

Will credits his instructors at NCOAE for their ongoing commitment to his success after graduation, highlighting one instructor in particular for their continued communication and help in securing employment at an EMS agency. He noted that the dedication of our instructors to their students’ success is what makes our EMT training programs so unique.

Additionally, this North Carolina native continues to volunteer at the emergency department in nearby Scott’s Hill, where he has applied many of his new EMT skills. Will’s long-term goal is to attend medical school, and he plans to apply during the next application cycle. (more…)

When some hear the term “wilderness medicine,” they think of those rusty out-of-date First Aid kits that they used to carry with them on a personal hiking or camping trip. “As if that thing is going to do any good in an emergency.”  

In fact, to the average summer weekend outdoor enthusiast, wilderness medicine is limited to treating minor cuts, scrapes, bruises, sprains, bites and poison ivy. A major tragedy would be the occasional broken bone. But it has always been much more than that. 

To realize just how broad wilderness medicine really is, all you need to do is travel back to Antarctica in 1961. That’s when Russian explorer Leonid Rogozov suffered a severe case of appendicitis. Being the only medical doctor on site, he had to perform his own appendectomy. That’s among the extremes of what wilderness medicine is all about.

More recently, the Thailand cave rescue shined the spotlight on wilderness medicine. Thousands of rescue workers and medical personnel, including Thai Navy Seals, the national police, doctors, and nurses, rallied to save 12 teenagers and their soccer coach, all trapped in a complex cave system by floodwaters during a heavy rain. Rescuers had to locate and extract 13 people, some of whom couldn’t swim, from a flooded, two and a half mile stretch of caves. 

The rescue tested experienced divers who struggled to navigate currents and squeeze through the narrow passages. Rescuers had to (more…)