Abstract
Wilderness emergency medical services (WEMS) are designed to provide high quality health care in wilderness environments. A WEMS program should have oversight by a qualified physician responsible for protocol development, education, and quality improvement. The director is also ideally fully trained as a member of that wilderness rescue program, supporting the team with real-time patient care. WEMS providers function with scopes of practice approved by the local medical director and regulatory authority. With a focus on providing quality patient care, it is time for the evolution of WEMS as an integrated element of a local emergency response system.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 377-389 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2017 |
Keywords
- Emergency medical services
- Medical direction
- Wilderness
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine