Wilderness/expedition nursing

Nurses General Nursing

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I am currently a BSN nursing student and after a few years of pondering and outdoor guiding I decided to become a RN and then perhaps a paramedic. My plan is to specialize in ER/ICU and then flight nursing and maybe later outpost nursing in order to help me become a wilderness and expedition nurse.I want to work on mountaineering expeditions, in clinics in the Himalayas, scientific expeditions, and as a flight nurse. I was wondering if anyone works in this area and has advice for me. Should I be becoming a paramedic for this area of work? I decided to go into nursing because it seems a more stable way to start my career. My passion is for remote response and high altitude medicine. Any help is appreciated

lol ok dont over analyze my thread. I didnt go into detail on purpose due to me being here all day to explain it step by step. This isnt a one afternoon thought out course, its held by ER Physicians, ICU Nurses, Fire Paramedics, you name it. I'll explain the airway kit. It fits in a travel size soap dish, consists of a couple safety pins, NP airway, disposable scalpels, 14g needles, duct tape, and maybe a few other things I'm forgetting about. These allow either oral airway management, cricoid airway, tension pnuemo decompression, or (if your good enough and you have no other means of saving the persons life) a chest tube. Yeah sure someone can carry around a couple NP airways, that wasnt my point. My point is with limited supplies use what you have and this course teaches you that. Do you carry around a traction splint in the field? Probably not, so carry some carabeaners, webbing, duct tape, and a machette and make one from a branch.. of course there's the pretty ways to do things, and if you like those ways and dont want to think outside the box dont take this course.

if you took the course you'd understand why I was talking about "aggressive infusion." We didnt admin 500ML of blood to our patients with no severe traumatic injuries, we did a practice 50CC transfusion to those who wanted to learn. Our initial assessment doesnt start with ABC's, It starts with Tourniquet, ABC. In this environment you have no ABC if you have no volume to make the process happen.

take the course if you think you know more, you'll be surprised these people are no fools just trying to make a buck. you might even learn to rethink what you already know. ask anyone else that has taken it.

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Wildernessgal,

It's been a few years since your post, however, I just stumbled on it. How I came about it is rather ironic. I too have very similar aspirations. I finished nursing school with my BSN in 2009 and am fast on my way to achieving things people told me would NEVER happen. I've experience many negative people who i've deemed to simply be jealous or cowardly.

I admire your dreams and goals!! I would love to hear where you are today, what you've been through, where you've gone. There are incredible paths and decisions to make along this very unique road that few will ever have the courage to travel.

for the last 10 years I have kept these dreams of mine a deep secret. I've chosen selectively to talk about it just in the last year openly. I know how judgmental people are, and I don't want others to know i'm their competition. It's a narrow field.

Good luck to you. You will succeed!!

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Hi GilaRRT,

you mentioned working for as remote medical support. Could you refer me to specific companies or websites where I could find potential employers? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. Did you do any RMS in Iraq? My hubby was a contractor in the ME and utilized med svcs several times..

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ah, once when i was younger and prettier i almost signed up for training as a river guide, which would have been "work for food" and be out on the rivers all summer, and be a nurse for them on the side.

for your purposes, though, i strongly recommend the stonehearth outdoor learning program (solo) (www.soloschools.com gives locations and details about current offerings all over the world). :twocents:

they have a 16-hour wilderness first aid program which is excellent-- i used to bring them in to teach it to my fellow boy scout leaders and older scouts, and have taken it myself. they also have a 40-hour wilderness first responder course and (ta-da) an 800-hour wilderness paramedic course. they travel and give these courses all over the world, or you can go to their wonderful home base in new hampshire. great instruction. they cover assessment and treatment of course, but also site management, extraction techniques, and transport.

oh, and they aren't just an educational organization: they also do rescues and suchlike all over the place, too, and will hire experienced people.

also check out the wilderness medical society and get their books :D .

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Hi GilaRRT,

you mentioned working for as remote medical support. Could you refer me to specific companies or websites where I could find potential employers? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. Did you do any RMS in Iraq? My hubby was a contractor in the ME and utilized med svcs several times..

I primarily worked in Afghanistan but flew a couple of patients out of Balad. I hear International SOS is looking for offshore and Africa mission support. They may be a good place to start. Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly, I wouldn't recommend that theatre right now.

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