Course Description

This 2-hour presentation will engage participants in the unique aspects of problem-solving and clinical reasoning needed to perform physical therapy and first aid care in adverse environmental conditions. The presentation will be based upon the speakers’ experiences providing point-of-contact backcountry patient care as Physical Therapists in the U.S. National Park Service, Wilderness Search and Rescue, and Wildland Fire Fighting.

Participants will learn how their skill sets as Physical Therapists can make key contributions to backcountry care including scene management, differential diagnosis, administration of treatment with limited resources and the development of creative ways to stabilize and transport patients. Participants will be encouraged to consider innovative evaluation and treatment approaches within the context of evidence-based wilderness medicine guidelines and physical therapy scope of practice.

Objectives

1. Describe current roles of physical therapists in backcountry environments including backcountry ranger PT, search and rescue PT and wildland fire line PT

2. Give examples of how the patient evaluation and differential diagnosis skills of a Physical Therapist can be of great value in decision making in wilderness patient care for emergent and non-emergent patients.

3. Discuss how the non-invasive, non-pharmacologic treatment skills of Physical Therapists can be utilized in remote and wilderness environments.

Schedule: 6:00 - 8:00 pm Pacific

6:00 Introduction, overview

6:10 Backcountry Ranger PT in a U.S. National Park (Dr. Beattie)

6:40 PTs in Search and Rescue (Dr. Jernigan)

7:10 PTs on the Wildfire (Dr. Hearn)

7:40 Discussion-Exploring new opportunities for Wilderness Physical Therapy