Blog One : Wilderness Medical Society

Wilderness Medical Society

Many students find a way to combine their passion for the outdoors with their chosen profession through the MCV Campus chapter of the Wilderness Medical Society. With more than 100 students involved, the WMS chapter is one of the largest student interest groups on campus. Through their outdoor fun, the chapter aims to expose medical students to the field of wilderness medicine, including pre-emergency department care and survival medicine skills. Students can also earn Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder certifications. Offering a number of programs throughout the year, WMS organizes an annual fall rafting trip to the New River Gorge in West Virginia as well as a 10-lecture spring first-year elective. This spring’s course will feature medical aspects of adventure racing, cave medicine and desert medicine as well as environmental emergencies.WMS also has presented a seminar on basic wilderness first aid that covered topics including the ABCs of resuscitation, back-country evacuation of injured patients and the basics of splinting broken bones.