Schedule

Led by Greg Banner, the former Artic environment trainer for the US Military, this session will walk participants through the skills and gear needed to conquer the most challenging winter environments.

What do you do when you’re on a hiking trip and you stumble across a sick or injured hiker? What resources are available to you and how can you get yourself and your patient safely off the trail? Join us for a simulation session to practice your wilderness medicine skills from discovering you have a patient to safe evacuation!

This session will discuss the use of ropes and pulleys as adjuncts in rescues/recoveries down an incline. We will cover a three way pulley system and demonstrate understanding through hands-on practice.

In this tabletop learning exercise, there has been a catastrophic explosion in a nearby town, resulting in 2,000 casualties and 200 fatalities. They are all coming to your hospital! What are you going to do? The scenario challenges the healthcare system's ability to handle a massive influx of patients, testing the hospital’s surge capacity and capability. Attendees will explore critical concepts in managing such a large-scale emergency, including identifying the four primary support elements that contribute to surge efficiency: staffing, supplies, space, and systems. The exercise will also delve into strategies for providing both contingency and crisis surge capacity, equipping healthcare facilities to effectively respond to overwhelming situations while maintaining patient care standards.

Wilderness medicine forces us to make the most of extremely limited supplies. In several workshops you'll be forced to get creative and resourceful when it comes to patient care as well as basic wilderness survival. In this workshop we'll take a look at how to improve our creativity and problem solving overall so when these situations arise in real life we're more adaptable and able to address whatever problems we come across!

Learn to use medications from raw materials or commercially available products to formulate a suitable dosage at an appropriate strength for your patients in the wilderness.

Learn to or refresh your skills in suturing and knot tying to close lacerations and wounds of any size!

Can you identify the rash or bite? How should you treat it?

Learn to manage hemorrhage and stop the bleed!!

Humans are breaking the golden rule: We are not packing out what we are packing in. We have coated the world in plastic. Come learn the effects on the earth, human health, and discuss what we in healthcare can do.

Orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries are amongst the most common injuries encountered outside of the clinic. From sports games on the sideline to wilderness and rural areas, identification of musculoskeletal injuries that require immobilization and appropriate splinting are important skills for the wilderness medicine provider. Prompt and proper immobilization techniques can improve pain and outcomes for those with injuries. In this workshop, participants will learn techniques for immobilizing fractures, dislocations, and severe sprains using various materials when traditional splinting and casting supplies, such as fiberglass or plaster, are not available in the field.

Kids in the wilderness! Learn about several common pediatric outdoor complaints as well as special considerations for kids with chronic illnesses and specific safety concerns with children as they explore the great outdoors. Lecture given by Camille Audette, DO.

This session is geared towards those looking to build or improve basic foundational skills, this workshop will help participants explore the categories of water purification strategies including indications, applications, strengths, and limitations. We will then take this knowledge for a spin against a murky contaminated opponent.

Participants will explore the pathophysiology, recognition, and management of altitude illness, including acute mountain sickness, high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). Dr. Hillary Irons will cover risk factors, prevention strategies, and key interventions for treating patients in austere, high-altitude environments. Case studies will highlight practical approaches to managing altitude-related emergencies in the wilderness.

Learn about Wilderness Toxicology from Emergency Medicine Toxicologists at Umass Chan!