“An Introduction to Wilderness and Search & Rescue Medicine”

29th-31st May, 2009
Blue Mountains, NSW

4:30 on Friday evening saw a group of intrepid mountain rescue trainee’s meeting at the Sydney University car park, backpacks slung over shoulders and climbing shoes donned.  It was the beginning of the first Wilderness Medicine Society training camp which was to be held over two days in the Blue Mountains.  The aim of the weekend was to bring together students from different universities to learn leadership and teamwork skills whilst developing a systematic approach to search and rescue, and managing emergency situations in a wilderness setting.

The Wilderness Medicine Society was inaugurated in March 2008 with the intention of introducing medical students to the field of wilderness and expedition medicine.  A number of highly successful events were held in 2008, including a weekend hike through the Royal National Park, and talks by Glenn Singleman, Keith Burgess and Edi Albert.

The weekend was facilitated by Dr Edi Albert and Vonna Keller, who have years of wilderness experience between them, having recently spent the summer at Casey Station in the Antarctic.  Edi has a great love of the outdoors which he combines with an interest in both medical education and remote medicine. He was previously Head of General Practice at the Tasmanian Medical School, but has developed a post-graduate training program in Expedition Medicine in Tasmania. He has travelled widely, including climbing expeditions to the Himalaya, kayaking in the Arctic, and closer to home, kayaking across Bass Strait.  Vonna has a wide range of experience working in the outdoors, from being an instructor in rock climbing, vertical rescue, kayaking, and white water rafting to working as a field guide with film crews in Antarctica. They made a dynamic training team for the basics of search and rescue.

During the weekend, theoretical lectures involving primary and secondary survey and dealing with an unfavourable environment were combined with the more practical skills of managing spinal injuries, rolls and carries, and improvising stretchers and splints.  Knowing there was to be a search and rescue exercise on Sunday afternoon, the morning was given to practising search techniques and triage.  The weekend culminated in an exciting exercise involving 3 “real” wilderness patients with a variety of injuries, including femur and ankle fractures, C-spine instability, hysteria and hallucinations, all of whom were expeditiously rescued and returned home.

The Wilderness Search and Rescue Medicine camp involved medical students from the University of Sydney, Notre Dame, the University of Wollongong and the University of Western Sydney, and was a fantastic opportunity to meet medical students from other universities and share information and ideas.  This weekend would not have been possible without the continued support and generous funding from NRHSN, Mirage and MDA, and given its resounding success we look forward to providing more events like it in the future.

Time: 6.15pm Wednesday 22nd October, 2008
Venue: Eastern Ave Seminar Room 115, University of Sydney

This month’s seminar will be given by respiratory physician Dr Keith Burgess. Dr Burgess is a University of Sydney lecturer with an interest in high-altitude and will be sharing some of his experiences from various trips to the Himalaya. It promises to be an interesting evening and, as always, all are welcome…

17 May 2008, Royal National Park

The report for this event is on the way… In the meantime, have a look at the photos.

21 May 2008, Seymour Centre

This international film fest showcased the year’s best short films about mountain culture, mountain sports and mountain environments. If there’s a mountain in it, it qualifies. running annually since 1976, this year’s collection was in Sydney at The Seymour Centre. Around 15 WMS members enjoyed eight films ranging from snowkiting in Scandinavia, to trials riding in Canada, to free-climbing in Mallorca.

Hmmm, plenty of ideas for future society events…

14 May 2008, Royal North Shore Hospital

Dr Edi Albert is a senior medical educator with General Practice Training Tasmania.  He presented a talk to the Wilderness Medicine Society via video link to the Northern Clinical School on his primary field of specialisation, Expedition Medicine, which involves providing medical support to teams in remote and hostile environments.

Dr Albert spoke on the role of the expedition doctor, encompassing:

• pre-expedition health checks,
• liaising with the team leader on equipment requirements,
• provision of First Aid within the teams,
• continued health care and support during the expedition, and
• implementation of the Accident Management Plan.

We hope to have Dr Albert run a course on Expedition Medicine for The Society in October this year.  Watch the events page for more details.

For further information on GPTT, visit their website.