Wilderness medicine, providing "vital emergency care in remote settings" is a rapidly evolving field and is of increasing importance as more people engage in hiking, climbing, kayaking and other potentially hazardous activities in the backcountry. A primary focus of the field is the evaluation, prioritization (triage), preliminary treatment of acute injuries or illnesses which occur in those environments and the emergency evacuation of victims. However, back country rescue and wilderness first aid is not the sole activity of wilderness medical professionals, who are also concerned with many additional topics. These include but are not limited to:
- secondary care follow up to first aid in remote settings, such as expeditions
- evaluation of experience and issuance of updated protocols for first response and secondary care
- the prevention of wilderness medical emergencies,
- epidemiological studies,
- public policy advisement to wilderness planning agencies, issuance of guidelines to disaster planning agencies, professional guides and amateur back country enthusiast organizations.
Read more about Wilderness Medicine: Scope of Wilderness Medicine, Epidemiology, Austere Environments Interdisciplinary Interface, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words wilderness and/or medicine:
“I was exceedingly interested by this phenomenon, and already felt paid for my journey. It could hardly have thrilled me more if it had taken the form of letters, or of the human face. If I had met with this ring of light while groping in this forest alone, away from any fire, I should have been still more surprised. I little thought that there was such a light shining in the darkness of the wilderness for me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As there is a use in medicine for poisons, so the world cannot move without rogues.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)