WFA or WFR? Which one is right for you?

A Wilderness First Aid (WFA) program is a basic training course designed for outdoor enthusiasts, hikers, and recreational adventurers who may encounter medical emergencies in remote environments. This two-day course covers essential topics such as wound management, splinting, hypothermia prevention, and evacuation considerations. The primary focus is on providing immediate and temporary care until professional medical assistance can be reached. This course is ideal for individuals who spend time in the wilderness and want a foundational understanding of first aid principles in remote settings.

The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is a more advanced and intensive experience designed for avid adventurers, outdoor educators, search and rescue personnel, guides, or those who work in remote environments—but this class is open to anyone! Throughout five days, a WFR delves deeper into patient assessment, prolonged care, decision-making in delayed rescue situations, and handling complex medical emergencies such as spinal injuries, anaphylaxis, and severe trauma. The WFR certification is often required for professional outdoor roles, as it puts more of an emphasis on critical thinking, leadership in medical scenarios, and the ability to provide extended care when evacuation is not immediately available.

Wilderness First Responder

Curriculum & Objectives

Our guides train you how to prevent, manage, and treat a range of common emergencies that you may encounter in the wilderness.

The WFR course combines online self-paced pre-course work with a highly immersive, five-day in-person training. This hybrid format is designed to give participants a foundation of wilderness medicine knowledge before the program, allowing better understanding and retention when each topic is expanded upon during the course. (Students must complete the online learning portion within 30 days of the in-person program.) The combination of focused learning and practical experience provides you with the conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills to deal with incidents that necessitate acute management while in the backcountry.

Program Objectives

Curriculum

• Build strong patient assessment skills

• Demonstrate common treatments of traumatic injuries and life threats

• Recognize and treat medical emergencies

• Prevent, recognize, and treat environmental emergencies

• Learn improvisation, evacuation, and rescue techniques

• Practice pre-trip and expedition planning

• Practice preventative strategies

  • CPR

    • Assessment

    • Compressions

    • Airway

    • Wilderness Circumstances

    • AED

    • Two-Person CPR

    • Child & Infant Techniques

    • Choking

    Drowning

  • Wilderness & Emergency Medicine

    Legal & Ethical Considerations

    Patient Assessment System

    • Scene size-up

    • Initial assessment

    • Secondary assessment

    • Ongoing assessment

    • Vital signs

    First Aid Kits

    Patient Care Report

    Anatomy & Physiology

  • Wound Management

    • Bleeding

    • Infection

    • Shock

    Musculoskeletal

    • Sprains, Strains & Fractures

    • Open and Complicated Fractures

    • Splinting

    • Shoulder Dislocations

    Head Injuries

    Spinal Injuries

    Chest Injuries

    Abdominal Injuries

    Burns

    HEENTS

  • Cardiac

    Respiratory

    Neurologic

    • Stroke

    • Seizure

    Diabetes

    Allergies & Anaphylaxis

    Abdominal Pain

  • Hypothermia

    Heat Illness

    Lightning

    Water Disinfection

    Snake Bites

  • Pre-Trip Planning

    Search and Rescue

    Mass Casualty Incident (MCI)

 

Wilderness First Aid & WFR-Refresher

Curriculum & Objectives

Our Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder-Refresher course will prepare you for your next adventure.

If learning wilderness medicine feels daunting, this course is designed to give participants entry-level, life saving knowledge in a digestible format. Students begin with a tailored version of our self-paced online curriculum before diving into two days of experiential skills-based in-person training. From the essentials of CPR and patient assessment to managing life threats and traumatic injuries, this course will build confidence, skills, and and understanding of basic first aid principles for when care is not immediately available.

Program Objectives

• Manage risk through pre trip planning and preventative techniques

• Assess and treat life threatening emergencies

• Practice common trauma techniques

• Develop important judgment skills for the assessment and evacuation of medical and environmental emergencies in the backcountry

Curriculum

  • Assessment of the unresponsive patient
    Adult CPR by the C.A.B. method
    Rescue breathing
    Choking

  • Prevention & preparation
    First aid kits
    Legal & ethical considerations
    Patient assessment system

  • Wound management
    Shock
    Musculoskeletal
    Head & spine
    Chest & abdominal
    Burns
    HEENT

  • Cardiac
    Respiratory
    Neurologic crisis
    Diabetic problems
    Allergies & anaphylaxis
    Gastrointestinal

  • Cold emergencies
    Heat Emergencies
    Poisons, bites, and stings
    Lightning
    Altitude

 

Wilderness Medicine Online

Begin learning today with our Wilderness Medicine Online curriculum, which provides full access to the lecture videos assigned in preparation for all of our programs.

This is a great place to start or refresh your skills, as the online program gives you 24/7 access to our instructional video series and resources that can help you stay safe on your next adventure. Additionally, you can apply the cost of this course as a credit toward any of our in-person programs.