Originally Posted By: Russ
Totally agree. After I took the 2 day Wilderness First Aid course at a local REI, I had the opportunity to assist with cleaning and dressing a wound. Learning in a classroom is a good start, but even the WFA and WFR scenarios are staged. They walk you through scenarios and you work out the issues, but there are no real open wounds.
WFR instructors put a lot of art into good moulage. Using various make up items, wax, fake blood, and sometimes ready made latex injuries, a good instructor can make a very realistic wound. Some outfits will give classes to instructors on how to simulate gore.

Other things can also make it very realistic. Once in a WFR class I was doing assessment on a non trauma patient. She suddenly barfed all over me. Turns out the instructor gave her a mouthful of oatmeal, told her to keep it in her mouth, then "throw up" on me at just the right moment. What was even more interesting was that the instructor was filming this scenario. Made for an interesting debrief, watching the look on my face when she "barfed"! There is a reason they tell you to wear old clothes to WFR scenarios!
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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
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