Abstract
Mountain athletes are often accompanied by guides that have appropriate medical knowledge and training. Very little is known about the medical knowledge of the unguided mountain athlete. The purpose of this study was to assess the medical knowledge of unguided rock climbers, skiers, and mountaineers.
This was a prospective, cross-sectional study that surveyed adult subscribers to 2 popular rock climbing and mountaineering online magazines. The survey consisted of demographic questions, previous medical training, and an 8-question examination adapted from Paul Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine textbook and the Advanced Wilderness Life Support certification course. Descriptive statistics were calculated and differences between subgroups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test.
There were 111 responders to the online survey with 107 retained for analysis (average age 32.37; 96.3% male). Most subjects had completed a first responder course (66.4%), and half had completed a wilderness medicine course (50.5%). Only 21.5% worked in the health care field. Overall, the group scored 72.31% on the examination. Performance varied by specific topic area as follows: trauma management (60.7% gave the correct answer), high-altitude medicine (89.7%), hypothermia (99.1%), frostbite (43.9%), avalanche (93.5%), wound management (67.3%), and infectious disease (55.7%). Exam performance was better for those who had taken a wilderness medicine course (76.85% vs 67.31%; P = .002) or a first-responder course (75.35% vs 66.32%; P = .004), or who had worked in health care (79.89% vs 70.24%; P = .01).
Unguided wilderness athletes likely have adequate knowledge of medical management for hypothermia, high-altitude emergencies, and avalanche rescue, but more than 1 in 3 gave the incorrect answer for management of trauma, frostbite, and infectious diseases. Previous medical training was associated with significantly higher wilderness medicine knowledge. These results may guide the development of courses to educate unguided wilderness athletes as these activities become increasingly popular.