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    The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid: An Officially-Licensed Book of the Boy Scouts of America: More than 200 Essential Skills for Medical Emergencies in Remote Environments
    The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid: An Officially-Licensed Book of the Boy Scouts of America: More than 200 Essential Skills for Medical Emergencies in Remote Environments
    The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid: An Officially-Licensed Book of the Boy Scouts of America: More than 200 Essential Skills for Medical Emergencies in Remote Environments
    Ebook264 pages1 hour

    The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid: An Officially-Licensed Book of the Boy Scouts of America: More than 200 Essential Skills for Medical Emergencies in Remote Environments

    By The Boy Scouts of America and Grant S. Lipman

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    About this ebook

    In the Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid, current Scouts, Scout alumni, and readers interested in the outdoors are provided with time-tested advice on how to safely identify, harvest, and use edible wild plants. Some practical tips include:
    • How to triage, assess, and identify medical emergencies
    • What to include in a first aid kit for your home
    • When to seek help for health emergencies
    • How to safely move a sick or injured person
    • How to perform CPR and use an automatic external defibrillator
    • What the proper procedures are for broken bones, hypothermia, burns, and sprains
    • And so much more!

    • Since 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has helped build the future leaders of this country by combining educational activities and lifelong values with fun. The BSA is committed to training youth in responsible citizenship, character development, and self-reliance through participation in a wide range of outdoor activities.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyhorse
    Release dateJul 23, 2019
    ISBN9781510739734
    The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid: An Officially-Licensed Book of the Boy Scouts of America: More than 200 Essential Skills for Medical Emergencies in Remote Environments
    Author

    The Boy Scouts of America

    The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®” The Scouting organization is composed of nearly 2.4 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and approximately 960,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

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      Book preview

      The Scouting Guide to Wilderness First Aid - The Boy Scouts of America

      INTRODUCTION

      Five years ago I published the Wilderness First Aid Handbook. That book was the culmination of several years of discussions with students, instructors, and educators while serving as Medical Advisor for Stanford Outdoor Education. I had wanted to provide protocols that could deliver logical and useful guidance for first responders whose depth of medical knowledge was a sixteen-hour wilderness first aid (WFA) course. I attempted to stay within the bounds of the curriculum and course that have been adopted and taught throughout the United States. In preparation for this Scouting edition, I revisited the doctrine and the evidence that forms the backbone of wilderness first aid, and remembered the lessons (delivered and received) over the years from my emergency medicine residents and wilderness medicine fellows in the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine. I decided to expand the scope of this edition to reflect both the WFA core curriculum as well as complex concepts and skills, as often readers have a thirst for advanced knowledge.

      Before going on a trip in the wilderness, consider taking a first-aid course. Credit: Grant Lipman

      Wilderness first aid skills may come in handy in areas affected by natural disasters.

      Wilderness first aid is the assessment and treatment of an ill or injured person in an environment where definitive medical care by a professional or rapid transport to definitive care is unavailable. People who work, live, travel, and recreate in the outdoors have specialized medical needs not adequately fulfilled by traditional first aid. Wilderness first aid fills this gap. Remote locations, arduous conditions, paucity of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, and a need to make critical decisions, often without outside communication define wilderness medicine as a specialty. These conditions may be found in remote wilderness, the developing world, or even in wealthy urban areas beset by natural disasters. This book is to be used as a guide to augment the skills and training learned in a typical wilderness first aid course. The intention is to assist the lay public, outdoor professionals, and instructors as well as members of wilderness first aid classes with useful and practical information that complements their training. Some elective skills are included, which the individual can decide to include depending on his or her comfort level and specific training.

      Wilderness first aid courses can prepare you for when you’re the first person on the scene. Credit: Grant Lipman

      Wilderness first aid courses can teach you how to assess an ill or injured individual. Credit: Grant Lipman

      You can purchase most of the medicines in this book over the counter.

      Consult with a doctor about any medicines you carry or prescriptions you may need. Credit: Grant Lipman

      This book is written for those who have basic first aid knowledge, not necessarily those with advanced degrees in medicine or pre-hospital care. The American Heart Association has limited components of its resuscitation curriculum, recognizing that some tasks may be difficult for laypersons to competently perform. Similarly, this book acknowledges that certain knowledge and procedures are outside the scope of the average wilderness first aid provider’s knowledge, and thus strives to limit the use of technical terms or advanced techniques that may be unfamiliar to some readers or impractical based on the wilderness setting. This book provides easy-to-follow protocols and instructions to assist those encountering most wilderness emergencies.

      Depending on where you are in the wilderness during an emergency, medical personnel may need a boat or helicopter to reach you. Credit: Grant Lipman

      While the contents of this book are meant to assist in managing a medical emergency in a remote environment, the information is applicable to any setting where the reader is first on the scene. The protocols contained in this book are to be used as guidelines and are by no means a substitution for common sense or definitive medical care. A rescuer is liable for his or her own actions and should never undertake a medical procedure he or she feels uncomfortable with or which is not absolutely necessary unless the rescuer believes the victim may lose their life or limb without intervention.

      Most medicines discussed in this book can be purchased over the counter. Consult with a doctor concerning the potential side effects, complications, or contraindications of any medications you carry. Similarly, ensure that there are no known allergies to the medicines you use.

      Travel in the wilderness is an inherently risky activity, as one often travels to remote locations for the adventure, solitude, and serenity provided. Ultimately, the ethos of self-reliance found in the backcountry is epitomized by a wilderness medical emergency. These protocols assume knowledge and implementation of patient assessment systems that should not be ignored when acting on these protocols. Familiarize yourself with the information within these pages before venturing into the backcountry to minimize the chances that an accident will have to be an emergency.

      This danger symbol next to the red flags of a patient’s symptoms serves as an indicator of a dangerous disease process that may necessitate imminent evacuation to definitive medical care. If any of these red flags are observed, start early preparations for a potential evacuation. Consideration of the terrain, time of day, and weather are all potential issues in expediting a timely evacuation.

      This helicopter symbol next to the evacuate assumes a medical emergency that requires a higher level of care via Emergency Medical Services (EMS). All evacuations assume the emergency is taking place in a setting where communication is likely not possible. The severity of the emergency, the potential for the patient to decompensate, the availability (or lack thereof) of outside communication, and the logistical and timely constraints of a rescue versus self-evacuation all need to be taken into consideration. If patients are able to ambulate on their own without endangering themselves or others, self-evacuation may be a quicker and better option in the wilderness environment. If a victim is unable to walk, or you expect that the ability to ambulate may shortly become compromised, you should likely send for a rescue. If the decision is made to send a messenger to initiate an EMS rescue, two people (buddy system) are better than one to ensure the safe delivery of both the message and messengers.

      CHAPTER 1

      ASSESSMENT SYSTEM/CPR

      Before you are able to administer first aid, an assessment must be made in an orderly process to ensure that both the rescuer and the patient are kept safe. Providing aid for a traumatic injury is similar to considering the causes of a sickness or random pains. The processes are the same, and a systematic approach to the problem will allow a logical step-by-step assessment, stabilization, and treatment. In the setting of trauma, rushing to provide care without an orderly assessment of the scene may inadvertently turn the rescuer into a victim. Keep in mind the adage, Don’t just stand there, do something. The initial assessment should consider hazards that could cause immediate injuries to the people attempting to assist the injured person.

      If you have gloves on the scene of the emergency, use them to protect both you and the patient.

      Scene Size-Up

      Ensure it is safe for the rescuer to approach the patient.

      Consider the number of patients.

      Consider the mechanism of injury (MOI), or how the patient may have been injured and the need for immediate spine immobilization ( see Trauma ).

      If body

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