Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;37(6):800-805.
doi: 10.1017/S1049023X22001388. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

Wilderness Medicine Curricula in United States EMS Fellowship, Emergency Medicine Residency, and Wilderness Medicine Programs

Maria Holstrom-Mercader  1 , Daniel Kass  1 , Monica Corsetti  1 , Avram Flamm  1   2
Affiliations

Wilderness Medicine Curricula in United States EMS Fellowship, Emergency Medicine Residency, and Wilderness Medicine Programs

Maria Holstrom-Mercader et al. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Wilderness Medicine (WM) focuses on care delivered in austere or resource-scarce environments. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements and core content for Emergency Medicine (EM) residency and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fellowship in the United States (US) include some WM topics that are covered to varying degrees in these programs. Furthermore, there are no ACGME-approved WM fellowships or specific curricula. Different training programs may develop WM content and curricula that differ significantly, leading to variations in WM competencies and training. In 2009, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Wilderness Medicine Section created a Fellowship Subcommittee and Taskforce to develop a standardized curriculum and core content for EM-based WM fellowships. However, to date, EMS fellowship and EM residency WM curricula in the US content have not been analyzed for consistency with the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum.

Methods: In this study, the WM curricula components of EM residency and EMS fellowship were evaluated using the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum as a control. Potential curriculum gaps for each program type were identified.

Results: Of the 19 WM competencies developed by the ACEP Wilderness Medicine Section Fellowship Subcommittee and Taskforce, EMS fellowship covers more WM topics (16 topics, or 84%) than EM residency (12 topics, or 63%), and combined, they cover 89% of these topics.

Conclusions: By expanding to cover two additional WM topics, all WM curricula topics recommended by the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum could potentially be covered in EM residency + EMS fellowship; however, the depth of education in each topic may vary. It may be beneficial for Graduate Medical Education (GME)-level learners for programs to implement hands-on educational experiences in WM topics.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Services; curriculum development; emergency medicine; medical education; wilderness medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Wilderness Medicine (WM) Components Found in EM and EMS Training Program Curricula. Abbreviations: EMS, Emergency Medical Services; EM, Emergency Medicine; WM, Wilderness Medicine.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rodway GW. The foundations of wilderness medicine: some historical features. Wilderness Environ Med. 2012;23(2):165–169. - PubMed
    1. Forgey MD. WMS Practice Guidelines for Wilderness Emergency Care. 5th ed. Guilford, Connecticut USA: Globe Pequot Press (Falcon Guides; ); 2006.
    1. Sward DG, Bennet BL. Wilderness Medicine. World J Emerg Med. 2014;5(1):5–15. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Auerbach PS, Cushing TA, Stuart Harris N. Wilderness Medicine. 7th ed. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Inc; 2016.
    1. Hawkins SC. Wilderness EMS. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2018.