Originally Posted By: Arney
Originally Posted By: dougwalkabout
not an expert, I'm only asking ... but does this assume that 9-1-1/paramedics are enroute, within x minutes, within an urban area?

Well, not necessarily just "urban" but yes. Going to the other extreme, I've never taken a wilderness medicine course, but I don't believe you are taught to start CPR if you know help is a long, long time away. (This last statement is an important point to get right so someone please correct/clarify if I'm wrong).


I took the Red Cross Wilderness First Aid course last year -- The Boy Scouts are requiring that at least one member of a trek crew must have a current certification in Wilderness FA to go to Philmont or Northern Tier.

Wilderness First Aid does not include CPR - that is a separate course and certification.

There was no blanket statement of 'yes' or 'no' to starting CPR. We did cover when to stop CPR -- when you are too exhausted to continue (as first aiders we are not qualified or trained to pronounce death...)

I found that the majority of the 'Wilderness' part of the course was setting expectations of what sort of expert care you can expect in the 'Wilderness.' Where 'Wilderness' is defined as EMS is more that about an hour away.

We did a lot of scenario work - both play-act and thought experiment - and a number of people in the course had great difficulty with the fact that there are situations where you can't even try to save everyone who is injured.