Wilderness Medicine

The Wilderness First Aid (WFA) is a 16 hour course designed to introduce the concepts of medical care in a wilderness setting. The course focuses patient assessment, providing care with limited resources, decisions on calling for additional help, splinting, wound care, and managing spine injuries.

The WFA course may be the best choice for weekend campers, people taking day hikes within cell phone coverage, and those who are just looking for basic instruction. If you like it and want more, you can always come back later and take a longer, more intensive course.

Those looking to apply for UW Outdoor Program Field Staff positions, the WFA is the minimum requirement for our programs.

Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive the following two year certifications:

•     Adult and Child CPR and AED

•     Wilderness First Aid

•     Epinephrine/anaphylaxis module

Certifications are not a guaranteed outcome of the course.

CPR | Friday, May 17 | 5-8 pm

WFA | Saturday/Sunday, May 18-19 | 8am - 5pm

Cost: $215 for UW Students; $300 for faculty/staff/public

The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) provides advanced medical training for outdoor professionals, those who take multi-day or longer personal trips, those who take part in high risk activities (rock climbing, whitewater paddling, mountaineering, multi-week expeditions of all kinds, etc.), or those who simply want to know more about wilderness medicine. Training covers patient assessment, providing care with limited resources, decisions on calling for additional help, splinting, wound care, managing spine injuries, etc.

The WFR course is for certification, as a Wilderness First Responder is the industry standard for outdoor instructors and guides.

Those looking to apply for UW Outdoor Program Field Staff positions, the WFR is the preferred requirement for our programs.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will receive the following two year certifications:

•     Adult and Child CPR and AED

•     Wilderness First Responder

•    Epinephrine/anaphylaxis module

Certifications are not a guaranteed outcome of the course.

The Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources offers upper division credit for the Wilderness First Responder certification. Students must successfully complete all WFR course requirements and provide proof of current certification to receive credit.

• ENR 3900 Wilderness Medicine, 3 credits (S/U grading)

  • Registering for ENR 3900 credits does not enroll you in the OP WFR course. You must register for the WFR certification course separately.
• Standard UW tuition and fees apply

• If you are not currently a UW student, you may still receive credit by applying to the university as a non-degree seeking student, additional information can be found at UW Admissions.

For more information and to enroll in ENR 3900, please contact Melanie Matthews, Project Coordinator for the Haub School, at melanie.matthews@uwyo.edu.

The WFR will be a hybrid method; a self-paced online content followed by 5 days of in-person learning. The entire course is 72 hours.

• January 4-8, 2024

• March 9-13, 2024

Cost: $550 for UW Students; $650 for Staff/Faculty/Public

The WFR Recertification course provides recertification of your already existing WFR certification that is current or in grace period. This course is important to stay up to date on industry standards and to refresh skills.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will receive the following two year certifications:

•     Adult and Child CPR and AED

•    Wilderness First Responder

•     Epinephrine/anaphylaxis module

Certifications are not a guaranteed outcome of the course.

Sunday/Monday | May 12-13 | 8 am - 5pm

Cost: $215 for UW Students; $300 for faculty/staff/public