Expedition and Wilderness Medicine Course
Plas y Brenin, UK
Course Date
- 13 May 2024 08:00 - 16 May 2024 15:30
GBP £995.00
Take your training into the field and open up a whole new world of travel and opportunity. Our internationally-renowned four day Expedition and Wilderness Medicine course gives you all the skills and expertise you need to become a competent member of an expedition medical team.
We also offer Expedition & Wilderness Medicine courses in the following locations:
- Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Keswick
- Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, New Hampshire
- Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Lake Bohinj
CPD Award: This expedition medical course has been awarded 24 CPD hours by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
“I would recommend this course to anyone contemplating a role in expedition medicine as an enjoyable and rewarding overview of the personal and practical skills required”
EWM Keswick course attendee
Experience medicine at the forefront, where every decision counts.
Key facts
Re-energise your career and set your sights on new horizons. These four days of inspiring training open up the world of expedition medicine to all medical professionals.
Over the years, we’ve watched our alumni take part in expeditions across the globe, respond to emergencies or natural disasters and gain placements with organisations such us Raleigh International, UK-Med, Team Rubicon and Médecins Sans Frontières.
You must be either a:
- Medical or Allied Health Professional OR,
- A student in your last two years of study
Location: Snowdonia
CPD Award: This expedition medical course has been awarded 24 CPD hours by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
What’s included:
- Tutoring, accommodation and meals
- Downloadable course resources
- Safety equipment
What’s not:
- Travel costs
- Travel insurance
- Personal equipment
- Drinks and food from the bar
What to expect
Our Expedition and Wilderness Medicine course is designed to be the most comprehensive introductory training course available to medics. Our experts blend engaging lectures with plenty of hands-on practical skills essential to all expedition medics.
For the first three days, your time will be split 50/50 between lectures and practical group work. You’ll cover everything from dentistry to tropical medicine, hot and cold environments, mental health and expedition planning. By evening you’ll enjoy socialising, challenging tasks and special guest lectures.
The final day focuses on a real-time search and rescue scenario where you will combine your skills to locate, rescue, treat and evacuate a casualty.
Course content
- Overview of Expedition & Wilderness Medicine
- Human Factors
- Crew Resource Management
- Pre-Expedition Planning
- Pre-Existing and Common Conditions
- Dentistry
- Introduction to Trauma in Resource Poor Settings
- Primary Survey
- Spinal Immobilisation
- Road Traffic Collisions
- Fracture Management
- Catastrophic Bleeding
- Analgesia
- Aeromedical Rescue
- Security on expeditions
- Hills skill
- Medicine in Tropical Environments
- Medicine in Hot Environments
- Altitude Medicine
- Medicine in Cold Environments
- Dive Medicine
- Water Purification
- Comms
- Wound Care
- Medical Kits
- Public Health
- Mental Health
- Medico-Legal Considerations
- Search & Rescue Exercise
What you need to know
We highly recommend arriving the day before the course. You can book additional accommodation for the Sunday night directly with Plas y Brenin.
Please ensure that you follow the kit list and pack adequately. Heavy rain, driving winds and low temperatures are common in the Welsh mountains. Poor kit can be dangerous and could preclude you from some activities. Having said that, stay hopeful – we do often enjoy T-shirt weather!
As a minimum you must bring:
- Waterproof jacket and trousers
- Sturdy walking boots
- Hat, gloves etc
- Outdoor clothing – comprising of base, mid and outer layers
- Spare set of outdoor clothing in case you get wet!
- Warm fleece or top
- Casual clothing for the evening
- Daypack – with a waterproof shell (to keep your spare clothes dry!)
- Water bottle
- Compass
- Whistle
- Head Torch
- Personal toiletries including a towel
- Personal First Aid Kit
Feedback from previous courses
What went well on your Expedition & Wilderness Medicine course?
“Honestly a top grade course with outstanding staff. I learnt so much I’m hoping to take these skills back with me to the road.”
“Lectures were interesting and delivered in an engaging way. Workshops were well structured and practical.”
“Great balance of practical and theoretical, fun dynamic atmosphere, social and cohesive faculty and group, well-packed schedule, excellent overview, broad range of interesting topics covered with signposting to more specific resources / courses.”
What was the single most valuable thing you learnt from your Expedition & Wilderness Medicine course?
“There is a huge range of possibilities and opportunities outside the walls of the hospital to incorporate the outdoors, some adventure and medicine together.”
“I learnt so much, but I think mostly I learnt the importance of planning and how to adapt your practice to the environment you are in.”
“Self-confidence, self-reliance, social skills, potentials for adventure and networking with like-minded individuals.”
About us
World Extreme Medicine trains, supports and informs medics looking to expand their skills and tackle new challenges.
A chance conversation about the impossibility of finding good expedition medics resulted in our Founding Director, Mark Hannaford creating the very first, bespoke Expedition Medicine course in the UK – over 20 years ago. Since then, we’ve spent the last two decades providing on-demand education, on-location training, international conferences, and expedition support for people outside normal medical environments.
Our network of around a quarter of a million experts, practitioners and instructors is here for you – inspiring, informing and connecting you with like-minded people and new opportunities.
Whether you’re a doctor, nurse, dentist, vet, paramedic, medical student or allied health professional, you can join us and discover new frontiers of your practice both at home or in the field.
