Wilderness Medicine: Beyond First Aid

I have a Master's Degree in Epidemiology and I'm a former EMT as well as having taught first aid (ARC) and CPR (ARC & AHA). Wilderness medicine has been a life-long fascination of mine and unfortunately (fortunately?) I've had ample opportunities to put my skills and training to the test in remote areas. I have approximately 100 wilderness medicine related books in my library and I've owned every edition of this book. Having said all that I like to think my opinion on this book is a qualified one. I asked myself a simple question: If I was in the bush with [insert name] and was injured or ill to a reasonable degree but unable to offer assistance of any kind, which book would I want [insert name] to have to effectively treat me? I chose this book, "Wilderness Medicine."Admittedly the decision was a close one. But when I took all mitigating factors into consideration, "Wilderness Medicine" edged out all the rest. The reasons for my choice are simple. It is "selectively thorough" meaning that Dr. Forgey addresses those situations you are most likely to see and omits that which is exceedingly uncommon.The book is approachable by non-medically trained people. Anyone with a modicum of education and with the proper supplies can use this book to provide effective medical treatment.Third, I wanted the author to keep in mind the circumstances and the treatment environment. There's more than a few brilliant wilderness medical texts that automatically assume you're going on an expedition to the Himalayas with a staff physician and an unlimited budget for medical gear and complete with a squad of Sherpas to carry it all. Dr. Forgey kept things in perspective, especially in adhering to his basic philosophy of utilizing multifunctional and improvised components while still having redundant capabilities.Another reason this book gets the nod is the section on cardiac care including a drug list that enables effective treatment. There was a time when most serious wilderness trekkers were young and fit and healthy. No so any longer. The very young and the very old can be found in a lot of places you'd never expect to see them. Same for the unfit. I actually stopped hiking my favorite day trail on weekends...I simply grew tired of treating heat related illnesses and dehydration and musculoskeletal injuries caused by obesity. Carrying a sick or injured fat kid uphill to the trail head is not how I wanted to spend my weekends.Of course there are a few things I wish this book would have been addressed better, and that's why I gave it four stars instead of five. I would have preferred better coverage of pediatric/child injuries including drugs and dosages.Since this book is geared towards sustained travel in remote areas I would like to see some long (2-3 weeks) term issues addressed. Complete urinary retention can be fatal. I would like to see more attention paid to wet-to-dry wound care in lieu of sutures/staples. I have encountered what I consider to be a higher than normal number of eye injuries, especially among campers who build open fires. I even developed a very light cobalt blue light source for foreign body detection.In the 6th ed. Dr. Forgey has seriously scaled back his recommended medical kit. Prior editions included a well thought out very sophisticated medical surgical assemblage that seemingly reached it's pinnacle of development in the 4th ed. In this edition (and the 5th) it's been reduced to a splinter removal-hemorrhoid treatment first aid kit unworthy of being called a medical kit. I'm not sure why this was done. Admittedly the kit was very expensive especially if you opted for imported German surgical instruments (Miltex brand-$$$$) as I did. But I don't think that justified cutting it back that seriously, especially for something so critical as your medical kit.In fact, I'm going to use this venue to ask Dr. Forget for a new edition. A lot of very effective products he recommended in earlier editions are no longer available or are impossible to find: Nu Gauze pads, Spyroflex everything, Beirsdorf CoverStrip II wound closure tape, pontocaine ophthalmic OINTMENT (incredibly easy to use...I sorely miss it!)...and other items I can't recall at the moment. So come on Doc! Your number one...at the top! Give us a 7th ed. and stay there.

I am one of those "crazy preppers" and an instructor in the field with military, survival and some medical experience. I needed/wanted a good, basic medical "How To" book for inclusion in my "Go Bag", which could also be recommended to others. This is the one. It covers a surprising number of problems, illnesses, and injuries in clear, concise, and lucid fashion, easily comprehensible by the lay person without any medical training and it is wonderfully free of jargon. More importantly, the topics are easily accessible (no fumbling through an extended index trying to find the right entry while your buddy bleeds to death). Of huge importance to the average person is the fact that Dr. Forgey goes out of his way to demystify this stuff - For instance, you do not have to spend hours (as I have) practicing suturing and "surgeons' knots" on raw (skin on) chicken breasts. The author, instead, shows you how to sew up a wound in a few paragraphs and with a handful of clear illustrations and then helpfully notes, after showing you the best knots to use, that, when you tie off, "any knot will do". For the first timer whose hands are shaking and who is about to throw up because of all the blood, that is a d**n good thing to know, because it takes the pressure off. Just sew it and tie it. This is not about making a pretty scar, it's about keeping you alive under exigent circumstances with minimal skills and minimal equipment, which is what you are going to need if and when the SHTF.In a book this size (and it's small enough to pack), there are going to be some omissions and this book has them, but they are surprisingly few and what it does have more than compensates for the occasional oversight. Blessedly, there is a minimal amount of verbage wasted on basic stuff, like washing your hands and boiling your water and not relieving yourself in your water source. This book presumes you are not a complete idiot and, instead, largely confines itself to providing a good "hands on" instruction on how to deal with specific medical problems which can arise while you're fleeing the chaos. It does contain some information on what all to keep in your medical kit, though it is weak on providing acquisition options and sources. It is also somewhat weak on the issue of medication effects and usage, however, before you stick a copy of the "Merck Manual" or the "PDR" in your back pack, you might want to check out the (green tabbed) medication section in Hesperian's "Where There is No Doctor", which is the best "field guide" to that particular topic I've encountered (note that you can download that section from the Hesperian website). See my review of that book.Bottomline, unless you have an "M.D." behind your name, don't go into the woods without this book in your pack.

Finally a book that provided me a good checklist to build a good first aid kit, and the backup on how to use all the contents in it! My first aid/emergency prep knowledge is limited to what I learned as a Boy Scout. I am just an outdoorsman, not a medial professional, so there are some procedures and elements in the book (prescription medications and surgical procedures particularly) I don't have the education or training to CONFIDENTLY employ but if push came to shove this book has at least given me some basic knowledge I could give it a shot if there was absolutely no better option. This book still contains a ton of basic information every outdoorsman should at a minimum be exposed to or just flat out know and I would want every member of my backpacking group to have read this book prior to head out.My overarching takeaway is that it got me thinking of a lot of different situations I never considered that I could run into while backpacking and has me better prepared to deal with them.

I was expecting this to be quite comprehensive but really it doesn't have much more information in it than smaller pocket guides, just bigger print.I was shocked to find that there is absolutely NOTHING in it about drowning/near drowning. I expected a few pages but as far as I can see it's not even mentioned anywhere. I see that as a major omission for a book of this type.I wouldn't be surprised if their are other gaps in it too - it just happens that I looked for drowning.

A good reference for those who have an interest in working in remote environments as expedition first aiders/WFR's. Set out in an easy to understand format which enables go to referencing.

This book whilst written by a renowned wilderness doctor contains too much text versus illustrations, you could describe the book as almost a novel with some pencil drawings. In order that any student grasp the concepts of wilderness medical techniques and understanding, photos and other pictorial items should almost accompany every topic.

Some useful basic first aid skills (not contained in the standard first aid manual - from well known and recognised national organisations) detailed in the book, when you find yourself 'off the beaten track' away from civilisation or with no mobile phone signal'.No need for complex medical equipment and where non-standard first-aid items (suture needles holders, suture kits etc.) are required suitable low-cost suggestions are made. Clear diagrams although only actual practice in the field or at home on the sofa will actually make a difference in real-life emergency situations. The last thing you need in an emergency situation is for someone reading the instructions first. however this is the type of book you can read over and over again and the diagrams are useful if you can find a willing patient to practice on (bandages, splints etc.). Suture practice is probably best carried out on oranges or perhaps your dinner (steak cuts etc.) only :)Nice general reading as well if you like to read around the subject of standard first aid techniques mainly used outside the urban jungle, where most of us spend 90% of our lives.

This book's strong points are that it can be well understood by someone with no medical training whatsoever, and it goes much, much further than any first aid ressource I have seen. I like that it always gives you options depending on whether you have access to prescription meds or not, and it suggests a list of medicines to bring along which are chosen for their versatility, as opposed to certain medications that are only useful or approved for one or two conditions.The weaknesses, as far as my preferences and needs are concerned, are as follows : 1) the writing style would allow for better memorisation and use in the field if it was more point-form than the current narrative text; 2) there is a clear lack of illustrations, no matter how well procedures are explained with words; 3) while its coverage of traumatic injuries seems pretty comprehensive, it lacks coverage of many medical problems, which may still happen in the wilderness despite the fact that they are not caused by a specifically wilderness-related incident.Still one of the best books I have seen for non-medically trained people on prolonged trips in very remote and isolated places.