Introduction to Organizing Wilderness Medicine on a Regional Scale

摘要

Unlike urban emergency care and medicine, which arenhighly regulated by both the government and professionalnorganizations, wilderness emergency care and wildernessnmedicine protocols are based on a voluntary consensus ofnexperts and educators. So it is not surprising that mostnwilderness emergency care programs evolved locally tonmeet local needs. Those who organize and teach suchnprograms often belong to national organizations such asnthe Wilderness Medical Society and informally exchangenideas when they meet at conferences, but otherwise therenis little connection or cooperation among them.nIf other regions emulate the organization described bynthe authors of this article, this lack of connection andncooperation may change. Their concept is to bring togethernpeople who run programs in a region to pool informationnand to share resources, rather than trying tonimpose standards or an overall plan from above. Thisncollaboration has already generated new programs andncreated alliances with other organizations that have relatednor complementary goals. It has also enabled membersnto negotiate with state agencies as an organizedngroup in which all of the major players are represented.nThe authors’ website (www.appwildmed.org) includesna toolbox link to help others develop similar regionalnorganizations, as well as a calendar and news items forntheir own region. As the authors explain, however, thenInternet has the potential ‘‘to create an international wildernessnmedicine virtual community’’ as well as to connectnpeople within a region. Sharing resources more effectivelynin both cyberspace and the real world will helpnwilderness educators not only to develop their own programsnbut also to integrate wilderness emergency careninto the community.