2025 Appalachian Wilderness Medicine Student Elective

2025 Appalachian Wilderness Medicine Student Elective is organized by Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) and will be held from Feb 03 - 28, 2025 at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, Virginia, United States of America.

New for 2025:
The four-week student elective is now full expeditionary! Participants will spend time in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina participating in experiential learning, high fidelity simulation, and didactics. Learning will take place in unique environments ranging from ski slopes and caves to boats, rivers, trails, and vertical climbing environments. Participants will master both in-field and in-hospital patient care. Tuition includes meals, lodging, high-quality education, and FAWM credits for the elective. Some gear rentals and optional activities may involve additional costs.

This elective provides four weeks of instruction including:

• Small group discussions of wilderness scenarios
• Formal lectures of Wilderness Medicine principles and specific topics by leaders in the field    
• Caving    
• Instruction in wilderness survival 
• Pre-hospital patient assessment and evacuation
• Wilderness Emergency Medical Responder Course
• Swiftwater rescue
• Snow safety
• Technical rope rescue
• High-fidelity simulation of environmental emergencies in a state of the art lab

Curriculum:
4 Week Student/ Resident Elective Objectives:

• Act as a medical group leader in backcountry or other remote settings
• Advise a wilderness travel group concerning care and evacuation of ill or injured members
• Plan for the medical support of wilderness and adventure travel experiences
• Manage common illnesses and injuries in an austere environment with limited resources
• Understand the physician’s role in search and rescue
• Identify and plan for special hazards in a variety of extreme environments
• Demonstrate basic competence in exotic travel and wilderness survival skills