Abstract
Objective
Premedical-profession students across the country are a growing demographic for participation in wilderness and outdoor education activities and constitute a significant portion of the demand for free-standing wilderness medicine (WM) courses (eg, first aid, first responder). Yet, these courses often do not include education on how to pursue career opportunities in the health professions. To bridge this gap, we designed a 2-week course at the CU School of Medicine focusing on both basic backcountry medical training and exposure to and mentorship in health careers. The course had 2 major aims: first, students learned basic WM care, which included patient assessment, evaluation, stabilization, and management; second, participants gained meaningful exposure to core medical lectures, hands-on scenarios, ultrasonography, physician shadowing, admissions processes, and discussions on a wide range of healthcare-related careers.
Methods
Surveys were distributed daily to evaluate topic relevancy, presentation quality, and overall enjoyment of material. Evaluations were distributed after the course to gauge how much students learned about emergency medicine (EM), WM, and various medical professions. Finally, students recorded their most liked and disliked areas of the course.
Results
On average, 30 students attended each course. They reported significant gains in knowledge related to EM (9.5 of 10) and WM (9.6 of 10). In addition, they reported gaining understanding about the practice and profession of medicine (8.4 of 10). Interestingly, students rated lecture-based and hands-on activities equally, but noted that shadowing emergency medical services and emergency physicians were particularly valuable experiences.
Conclusions
This novel educational approach influences premedical students through instruction in both hospital medicine and WM while simultaneously shaping their outlook on and ability to pursue a career in medicine. The success of these courses demonstrates a strong market demand for premedical education, portending a significant growth area for WM education as a whole.