You and your friends are out in the back country for a day of epic powder skiing. After a couple laps your best friend losses control and hits a tree. You ski up to him and see his leg is broken at the femur. Rescue is hours away, do you know what to do to prevent further injury and deal with the effects of blood loss?
There are many different medical certifications that you can get, but which one will suit your needs the best?
EMT-Basic
-Curriculum follows National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations guidelines
-110+ Hours of class (CPR required before)
-Areas of Education Include:
- Basic Anatomy
- Collecting patient history and baseline vitals
- Patient assessments: Initial, Physical, and On-going
- Emergencies: Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Diabetic, Allergic, Poisoning, Environmental, Behavioral, OBGYN
- Trauma: Bleeding and Shock, Soft tissue, Musculoskeletal, Head and Spine
-EMT-Basic Certification will cost about $1000 and lasts 2 years before a 24 hour refresher course must be taken (about $100)
Outdoor Emergency Care
Practicing skills during my OEC course through Snowbird Ski Patrol.
-Curriculum put out by National Ski Patrol
-80-100 Hours of Class (Includes CPR)
-Areas of Education are SIMILAR but not as in depth as an EMT-B
- OEC provides more focus on packaging and transporting patients over varied terrain (Snow, Ice, Rock) to EMT’s and Paramedics
-Some classes spend additional hours working on mountain
- Working with toboggans
- Tree-wells and other Mountain Situations
-OEC classes are taught by individual instructors so prices vary. ($400-$500)
-OEC Certifications last 3 years and require a yearly refresher which can vary in cost. ($100)
Wilderness First Responder
-Curriculum meets U.S. Coast Guard standards for First Aid and CPR
-80+ Hours of class (Includes CPR)
-As with the OEC, the areas of Education for a WFR are SIMILAR but not as in depth as an EMT-B
- WFR provides more emphasis on transporting patients over extreme wilderness terrain
- Improvise medical devices: backboards, splints etc.
- If transport is not an option, how to treat an injury for hours or days.
-WFR certification pricing is also dependent on who the course is taught through. ($600-$1000)
-Once obtained, a WFR is valid for 3 years and refresher programs cost $200-$300 for an additional 18 hours of training to keep it current for 3 more years.
Typical usage of OEC and WFR certifications are applicable to ski patrol work and various guide jobs. However many places will accept an EMT-B instead of an OEC or WFR.
I have my OEC certification and it has come in handy a few times. Get Prepared!
As someone who teaches all three. I will always say start with a WFR. Basic EMT teaches some decent anatomy, but little extended care outside of O2 and a hug. Most everything taught involves rapid transport. This is generally not an option in a wilderness environment. This said you can’t beat clinical hours that are required for experience. Also there are legal issues with EMT and OEC. Where the WFR leaves you still in the realm of the Good Samaritan Law. WFR will help give you the insight of if you want to continue on into the EMT world. The two together give a very solid foundation for starting your W-EMT. Just make sure you go to a school where all cost are covered up front. So you don’t end up being nickle and dimed. If you are pursuing your EMT check with the hospitals where you would be doing your clinicals. To see how they feel about the schools program.
I know Good Samaritan Laws vary from state to state, but my understanding is OEC is also covered provided you act within your training.
You are right. My one problem with OEC is the same that I have with EMT. Patient care is based on rapid transport. You do learn to stabilize your patients, but actual care for patients is much better addressed in a WFR or W-EMT. OEC and EMT are also taught with the mindset you will have the proper tools at your disposal for patient care. Most people that go into the back country are not nor should they be carrying 40lbs of medical equipment. Learning to effectively improvise much of this same equipment with whats at hand is a much more useful skill set for the wilderness environment. All of these classes have there place. But if the place where you would most likely have patients contacts is somewhere with extended contact time. Then why not go for the training that caters to this specifically. If not start with the program that most intrigues you. Just start somewhere. Even if its a first aid class.
Agreed. With our Ski Patrol on Mt. Hood we have the tools we need (usually) at our disposal… and plenty of patrollers to get them to you if you’re FR. If I were going to be going into the backcountry for an extended period of time I would take the WFR as well since it focuses on extended care and improvising.
i would recommend WFR to anyone that spends much time in the wilderness. the most useful aspect of it to me was probably the awareness of how royally screwed you can get by injuring yourself far from roads.
thanks for a good article.
If you work in a wilderness enviroment…WFR is recognized mostly all over south america as well (SPECIALLY in Chile and Argentina if you are a powdermaniac), i’ve done it twice, last time in Patagonia, working and traveling confident with clients and friends…..
Just get your THC card. You might be able to help someone in need.
I have my emt-p I was thinking about taking the oec class since most of what I forward is in the city or in the back of the squad.
If you join the NSP your OEC certification should only be around $100-120. But then be prepared to buy a few hundred dollars worth of equipment as well (which I figure you would do anyway if you get your OEC outside of NSP). Plus then depending on your area, you can get perks and discounts on gear. Makes more sense to me to join your local ski patrol rather than just get an OEC certification.
As a current NU-OEC, OFA, and EMR ticket holder, in bounds you can’t beat your EMR, Airway management, Entonox, ASA, Salbutamol, Ventolin, Benadryl to start, your scope of practice will increase greatly over the other certs. King LT’s sagers, and lots more await you as an EMR. Plus EMR just sounds cooler Or EMT.
I have all 3, i did them in order of WFR (when I first became interested) OEC (when I became a patroller) then EMT (when i realized it was the perfect summer job) I would suggest the WFR, it is a combo of first aid and Macyver skills. And when you take your WFR do it through NOLS wilderness medical school, they are by far the best and have awesome teaching techniques and great ways to help you remember everything you have learned.
+1 for WFR for its macguyver like training. as said repeatedly above, EMT-B and OEC are designed more for professionals that have access to advanced care and rapid transport. WFR is more appropriately suited to amateurs that have nothing beyond their standard outdoor equipment. in that class i learned stuff like “trace a c-collar with marker onto the bottom of a sleeping pad”, because if you have to, you can cut one of them out and make a pretty effective collar for an emergency situation. last i checked no one brings a c-collar touring. except maybe an EMT or an OEC certified patroller on duty
GREAT FOOD FOR THOUGHT Thankz for a great job on an important subject
Did anyone get their WFR training in Washington state? Specifically near Seattle? I’d like to look into this and would appreciate where to look.
So if a person who spends a good deal outdoors and has no interest in the certificates professionally but is interested in WFR just for good knowledge, I have to take 10 days off work to take the class through the NOLS? Ugh.