Talk:Wilderness first aid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of WikiProject First aid, an attempt to maintain and improve wikipedia's first aid and emergency care related articles. Please see the WikiProject page if you would like to contribute.

A lot of information in this article ignores the fact that WFA is the discipline practiced by those with WFA training who are part of the injured person's party, or who come upon the scene by chance.

(These are almost always dedicated amateurs, since most of the pros find it worthwhile to get a higher qualification. And it is about chance bcz those who are sent to the scene are not there to practice first-aid, but first responders or WFAs working as assistants to a Wilderness First Responder (WFR).)

Such info as how to phone for anti-venin is irrelevant to the practice of WFA, and promotes confusion about what it is, rather than providing info about what it is.

I recommend a thorough edit by a WFR, or an MD, PA, or APRN specializing in Wilderness Medicine, since these will understand better than WFA practitioners where WFA ends. --Jerzy(t) 01:54, 2004 Mar 31 (UTC)

I'm a WEMT, I'm getting to this article after finalizing the first aid wikiproject -- St.isaac 18:34, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] CPR

Edited an hour of CPR to twenty minutes.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 156.34.209.98 (talk • contribs) 01:18, 26 September 2004

  • I can't decide if I agree with changing it to 20 minutes from an hour. One one hand, yes, its very unlikely to be successful beyond that time. But if help can arrive within an hour, it would certainly be the most prudent course of action to continue, after all it is probably worth that person's life to just try. As well, I was always told that people (particularly relatively inexperienced practitioners) should be taught to continue as long as they are able for the sake of the rescuer's mental state (ie, so that they don't develop CISD / remorse from thinking they didn't do enough). At the same time the "as long as they are able" part must take into account the fact that if they are in a true wilderness situation, performing CPR for hours on end will make you so exhausted it may affect your safety when travelling after the incident. I don't know if there's a way to tactfully add that sentiment to the page, rather than having a set time limit.
    --Vanchuck 19:55, Oct 17, 2004 (UTC)

I don't know that there is a good way to set a limit. Someone will always be along to claim that the party didn't do enough, or they didn't do it right, or they didn't have the right certificate, or ... whatever. The team has to do enough that they all feel they've done enough, and they should discuss stopping before they do (the conversation they had three days before about the theory of when to stop is merely the starting point.) htom (talk) 06:10, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Merger between Wilderness first aid and Wilderness medicine

I have several reservations about merging these two articles. Whoever tagged them neglected to say the direction they wanted the merger to go forward. I think either way with the current development of the two articles it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Merging WFA into WM.
  • Merging could reduce benefits to people considering trips to remote locations. (Business or Leisure)
  • Wilderness first aid focuses on current hazards; Wilderness medicine is somewhat erratic including past events, qualifications, organizations, training, specializations and related fields.
  • Wilderness medicine is much less developed than Wilderness first aid, so the majority of the Wilderness medicine article after merging (assuming little loss of info) would be on Wilderness first aid.
Merging WM into WFA.
  • Wilderness medicine as it states goes back to the Napoleonic Wars and should eventually should contain a larger amount of historical information.
  • Merging would reduced possible development of Wilderness medicine since at best it would be a section on history of Wilderness first aid.
  • Not all Wilderness medicine is within the scope of Wilderness first aid.

WikipedianYknOK 19:00, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to have to say that I oppose this; while there are parts that overlap, there are probably more parts that do not. I think of wilderness first aid as "what to do until you get to town", while wilderness medicine is "what to do after you've gotten to town -- and find no phone, no doctor, no good water, and half of your party is turning purple with large green dots." htom (talk) 06:02, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Oppose merge

The two topics seem separate, seem to me to be separate fields of practice. rkmlai (talk) 17:29, 11 June 2008 (UTC)