Wilderness First Aid Skills

Get trained in CPR and Wilderness First Aid. A good definition of “wilderness” in this context is being >1 hour from the back doors of an ambulance. Most field situations fit within this definition. Wilderness first aid classes contain much more first responder information and actions than typical community first aid classes. There is no adequate substitute for getting this training. The largest wilderness first aid school in the US is the Wilderness Medicine Institute, which is part of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). The 2-day Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course and 10-day Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course are both taught at UCSC through the OPERS Outdoor Recreation Department multiple times a year. In the past, scholarships have been available to some graduate students.

First Aid Kits

Any excursion into the field should carry some basic first aid supplies. There is no perfect first aid kit, but here are some guidelines to consider when assembling one:

• First aid kits don’t save lives, people do. Get trained and know how to use everything you put in your kit.
• Commercial first aid kits are good starting points for creating a first aid kit for your needs. The Wilderness Medicine Institute, a part of the National Outdoor Leadership School, has some great options. You can use the coupon code Educate2016 to recieve 15% off of first aid supplies and books. This code can be used as many times as you need, and they are planning to update the last digits of this code at the beginning of every calendar year (Educate2017, 2018, 2019...).
• Re-pack your first aid kit for each trip. Check for expiration dates on medications, sterile items that may have been torn open or damaged. Remember to clean out all the trash from your last trip.
• Leave an empty plastic bag in your FA kit for trash. Be strict with all users of the kit to use the trash bag.
• Add extra disposable gloves.
• Often, you have to improvise with what you have with you when you’re administering first aid. While many standard first aid kit items can be replaced by improvising with other equipment, there are some items that are very hard to adequately improvise. These include:
  • Latex/nitrile gloves
  • Wound irrigation syringe
  • Athletic tape
  • Trauma shears
  • Elastic wraps (Ace wraps)
  • Tweezers, preferably pointed for tick removal
  • Pocket mask
  • Band-aids of various sizes
  • Medications (such as antihistamines, epinephrine, over the counter pain and anti-inflammatory medications, etc.)
  • Pocket first aid reference
  • First aid documentation forms and pencil/pen to write with
  • Watch

Recommended First Aid references and resources:

• NOLS Wilderness Medicine Field Guide - 4^th edition or later. Purchase these at the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute Online Store.
• NOLS Wilderness Medicine Pocket Guide - At just $5, consider having these compact resilient guides in all first aid kits, vehicles, and hiking groups.
• Patient Assessment Form: for recording pertinent medical information about a patient and helping to make patient evacuation decisions 

Medications It is best to ask participants to carry their own medications if they are frequent users of pain relievers or have specific prescription medications. It is still prudent to carry some of these medications in a group first aid kit. Here are some suggestions:

• Pain relievers: Ibuprofen, aspirin, and acetaminophen.
• Antihistamines: Benadryl or other common brand name
• Antibiotic ointment
• Anti-itch cream
• Tecnu
• Sunscreen
• Epinephrine: This is an auto-injectable drug that is used when someone has a severe life-threatening allergic reaction (called anaphylaxis) that can cause a patient’s airway to swell shut. Epinephrine needs to be ordered from a pharmacy. Currently, the UCSC pharmacy can help order this. Because this is an injectable drug, training is required.