The Wilderness Medical Society was created on 15 February 1983 by three physicians from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States — Dr. Paul Auerbach, Dr. Ed Geehr, and Dr. Ken Kizer. It is the largest international non-profit membership organization devoted to addressing wilderness medicine challenges, more specifically defined as "medical care delivered in those areas where fixed or transient geographic challenges reduce availability of, or alter requirements for, medical or patient movement resources". It also publishes '' Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal'', ''Wilderness Medicine Magazine'', and Wilderness Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Academy of Wilderness Medicine

The academy seeks to provide a system of adult education and certification in a modern and standardised way to provide a set level of knowledge and education for practitioners working in the wilderness arena. The goals of the academy are to: * Professional designation for achievement in Wilderness Medicine * Validation for the public, patients, and clients of practitioner education in Wilderness Medicine * Recognition for completing high quality standards in Wilderness Medicine * Continuing medical education (CME) credit for acquisition of knowledge and hands-on experiences in Wilderness Medicine * The advancement of an internationally recognized curriculum of Wilderness Medicine categories, topics, and skills The Academy also maintains the curriculum for the Fellowship award. This curriculum is completed over a maximum of a 5-year period and culminates in the award of Fellow being bestowed at the Society's annual conference. The award of the Fellowship allows the holder to use the post-nominal letters FAWM (Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine), as of early 2020 there were just over 600 current Fellows. The Academy also manages a "Master's Degree Fellow Program", which bestows a Master Fellow designation, allowing the holder to use the post-nominal letters MFAWM (Master Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine). The Master Fellow degree program is an advanced, post-fellow certification that was created to denote individuals who have excelled in a specific sub-discipline within the scope of wilderness medicine in addition to being Fellows of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. The Master program is an attempt to: * Further the academic programs of the WMS. * Allow additional academic enrichment opportunities for WMS members. * Create a group of experts in specific sub-disciplines for utilization in teaching, lecturing and research development. * Create a cadre of ever-evolving leaders for the WMS to utilize.

FAWM curriculum

The curriculum for participants wishing to gain fellowship is modular and is divided into Electives, Required Topics and Experience: Required/Core Topics are divided into twelve sub-headings: *

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

and

Hyperbaric Medicine Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

*Tropical and Travel Medicine *

High Altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

& Mountaineering Medicine * Expedition Medicine *Field Craft and Equipment *

Rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ...

and Evacuation *

Sports Medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the ...

and Physiology *

Preventive Medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

, Field

Sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...

& Hygiene *General

Environmental Medicine Environmental medicine is a multidisciplinary field involving medicine, environmental science, chemistry and others, overlapping with environmental pathology. It can be viewed as the medical branch of the broader field of environmental health. Th ...

*Improvised and Alternative Medicine *Disaster &

Humanitarian Assistance Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

*Wilderness Emergencies and Trauma Management FAWM credits can be gained in a number of ways such as: *Attending WMS conferences *Completing online tests after reading journal articles *Watching online lectures *Publishing peer-reviewed articles *Teaching in the area of Wilderness Medicine

Activities

The Wilderness Medical Society organize annual conferences and meetings for members and interested parties.

Notable Fellows

*Dr. Paul Auerbach – Founder of WMS and past president of the WMS. *Dr. Lt Col Sean Hudson MBE - Co-founder of World Extreme Medicine (WEM) awarded by Queen Elizabeth II and MBE for his services to Medicine *Dr. Paul Bromley – Senior Advanced Clinical Practitioner, prehospital clinician and lecturer in clinical physiology. *Dr. Sundeep Dhillon – Physician and physiologist. *Dr. Hannah Evans – GP and expedition medicine instructor and lecturer. *Dr. Clayton Everline – Author of 2 editions of "Surf Survival" (2011, 2019) and Sports Medicine doctor on Oahu. *Dr. Seth C. Hawkins – First physician to be designated a Master Fellow; editor of the textbook ''Wilderness EMS''; executive editor of ''Wilderness Medicine Magazine''; founder of the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship. *Mr. Rhodri Jordan – Remote Paramedic and educationalist. *Dr. Tom E Mallinson – GP and Paramedic, Prehospital Doctor and Academic. Lecturer for the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine *Mr. Aebhric O'Kelly – Dean of the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine and FRSM. *Dr. Matt Wilkes – Senior Editor of the Adventure Medic Website, PhD researcher and anaesthetist.

Affiliated groups

Backcountry Pulse
* College of Remote and Offshore Medicine, Malta. *Expedition and Wilderness Medicine *Advanced Wilderness Life Support (AWLS) *NOLS Wilderness Medicine *American College of Emergency Physicians – Wilderness Section *International Hypoxia Symposia *Everest ER *Institute for Altitude Medicine *Wilderness Medical Associates *EcoMed *Wilderness Medicine Programs – Roane State Community College *Mountain & Marine Medicine *Waves of Health *Argentine Mountain Medicine Society *WildMedix * Hawk Ventures

References

External links

The Wilderness Medical Society home page
{{authority control Medical associations based in the United States Wilderness medicine Medical and health organizations based in Utah