Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship

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The Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship (CWEMSE) is an out-of-hospital medical training for 4th year medical students and resident physicians interested in furthering their educational interests in wilderness EMS.

Contents

History

The Externship was founded by emergency and EMS physician Seth C. Hawkins in 2011, and co-founded by the Pilot Extern of that year, Dr. Ben Abo. Hawkins remains the course director and the course operates as a project of Hawk Ventures. [1]

Program

During one month each year, Hawk Ventures invites two Externs to Burke County, North Carolina to participate in an unusual collaboration of local medical resources—a community EMS system (Burke County Emergency Services), a community hospital system (Carolinas HealthCare System Blue Ridge-Morganton), a community college (Western Piedmont Community College), and an international research university (Wake Forest University‘s Department of Emergency Medicine). During this month the Externs operate as full members of the out-of-hospital medical team while learning the detailed workings of EMS medical direction, protocol management, and system response in the setting of rural, austere, and wilderness environments in Burke County.[ citation needed ] The county includes Linville Gorge Wilderness Area (the deepest gorge in the eastern United States, known as the “Grand Canyon of the East”), South Mountains State Park (the largest state park in North Carolina), and Lake James and its state park. [2]

An atypical feature of this training program is that the physician trainees learn from field paramedics, which reverses the typical EMS model of physicians teaching and supervising EMS personnel. The Externs also establish a research project on an innovative topic related to wilderness EMS, formulate a lecture based on this research that is geared toward ALS and BLS crews within the county, and provide the lecture as part of in-service for the month of the Externship. [3] This research has resulted in numerous contributions to the medical literature and medical education, including a description of the first case of interventional ultrasound use in a wilderness environment [4] and development of the innovative “Safety Third” principle in emergency management. [5] The Externs respond to EMS and wilderness EMS calls throughout the month and learn scene management, medical command, and other duties that an EMS physician may be responsible for providing when engaged in a wilderness EMS setting. This program's hands-on, experiential learning style in the field rather than the classroom, and the program's emphasis on field providers training physicians rather than the reverse, has been identified by Hawkins as "esse quam videri" learning. This approach has been cited in the wilderness medicine literature as an optimal way to acquire wilderness EMS and Search & Rescue (SAR) education, [6] and the rotation has been cited as the "best month of medical school" by its students. [7]

Accolades

In 2018 Hawkins and the Externship received the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s “Innovation in Medical Education Award”. [8]

In 2019 Hawkins and the Externship received the Karl Rohnke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education. [9]

Faculty and staff

Source: [10]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical technician</span> Health care provider of emergency medical services

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramedic</span> Healthcare professional who works in emergency medical situations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morganton, North Carolina</span> City in North Carolina, United States

Morganton is a city in and the county seat of Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 16,918 at the 2010 census. Morganton is approximately 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Charlotte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency physician</span> Physician specialized in emergency medicine

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilderness medicine education in the US</span>

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Wilderness first responders are individuals who are trained to respond to emergency situations in remote locations. They are part of a wide variety of wilderness medical providers who deal with medical emergencies that occur in wilderness settings. While wilderness first responder can generically refer to anyone providing first response, this term typically refers to individuals trained and certified with specific Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification.

Emergency Medical Technician is the entry level of Emergency Medical Technician in the United States.

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The Wilderness Medical Society was created on 15 February 1983 by three physicians from California, United States — Dr. Paul Auerbach, Dr. Ed Geehr, and Dr. Ken Kizer. It is the largest international non-profit membership organization devoted to addressing wilderness medicine challenges, more specifically defined as "medical care delivered in those areas where fixed or transient geographic challenges reduce availability of, or alter requirements for, medical or patient movement resources". It also publishes Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal, Wilderness Medicine Magazine, and Wilderness Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines.

The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services is a division of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in charge of emergency medical services for New York City. It was established on March 17, 1996, following the merger of the FDNY and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's emergency medical services division. FDNY EMS provides coverage of all five boroughs of New York City with ambulances and a variety of specialized response vehicles.

A wilderness medical emergency is a medical emergency that takes place in a wilderness or remote setting affinitive care. Such an emergency can require specialized skills, treatment techniques, and knowledge in order to manage the patient for an extended period of time before and during evacuation.

Wilderness medicine 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. The modern definition of wilderness medicine is "medical care delivered in those areas where fixed or transient geographic challenges reduce the availability of, or alter requirements for, medical or patient movement resources".

The Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine (ACWM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting wilderness medicine in the southern Appalachian region of the United States of America. Dr. Seth C. Hawkins, an emergency physician who specializes in EMS and wilderness medicine, founded ACWM in 2007 in the state of North Carolina. It is the first regional wilderness medicine non-profit of its kind in the United States. Contemporary authorities in wilderness medicine have noted its importance in establishing a mechanism for regionally pooling information and resources in a field that otherwise has little connection between local or regional experts. Critical to that effort have been uses of the internet in ways not previously seen in wilderness medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth C. Hawkins</span> American poet

Seth Christopher Collings Hawkins is an American emergency physician, writer, anthropologist, and organizational innovator. He has made notable contributions to the fields of wilderness medicine, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and medical humanities. His work has particularly specialized in EMS and wilderness medicine in the southeastern United States, where he is the founder of the Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine, the Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team, and the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship.

William 'Will' R. Smith, is an emergency physician and wilderness medicine consultant who lectures about integrating combat medicine into wilderness rescues around the world. He started Wilderness & Emergency Medicine Consulting, a company that helps people with pre-trip planning, online medical support, travel medicine in remote areas and provides expert witness testimony in court cases related to wilderness medicine. As medical director for the National Park Service, he oversaw the largest rescue event ever to occur in Grand Teton National Park. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming where he is an emergency medicine physician at St. John’s Medical Center.

References

  1. ↑ Tammie, Gercken. "Doctor presents wilderness EMS film series to educate public". The News Herald.
  2. ↑ Wilusz, Ryan. "Med school 'externs' reflect on wilderness EMS rotation". The News Herald.
  3. ↑ Hutchins, R (August 29, 2012). "Into the Wild". The News Herald. Morganton, NC.
  4. ↑ Kranc DA, Jones AW, Nackenson J, Davis C, Abo B, Hawkins SC. Use of Ultrasound for Joint Dislocation Reduction in an Austere Wilderness Setting: A Case Report. Prehospital Emergency Care, posted online 10 Oct 2018.
  5. ↑ "Safety is Third, Not First, and We All Know It Should Be". Journal of Emergency Medical Services.
  6. ↑ Amsalem D; Circh R (2014). "Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship: Turning the World Into Your Classroom". Wilderness Medical Society.
  7. ↑ Casey J; Murphy C (September 1, 2019). "Award-winning Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship returns". The News Herald. Morganton, NC.
  8. ↑ "Dr. Seth Hawkins, local EMS externship honored with national award". The News Herald. June 5, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Karl Rohnke Creativity Award". Association for Experiential Education. 2019.
  10. ↑ "Faculty/Staff/Externs". Hawk Ventures. Retrieved 14 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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