Archive for the ‘Wilderness and Environmental Medicine’ Category

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Hannah McKeand has kindly agreed to be the guest speaker on the September Keswick Expedition Medicine Course

Guest speaker – Hannah McKeand, renown Polar Explorer http://www.hannahmckeand.com/

In 2004 Hannah joined a British expedition to explore the isolated Wakan Corridor in the northeast of Afghanistan in search of the source of the River Oxus. The strip is walled by the Hindu Kush in Pakistan to the south, the Pamirs in Tajikistan to the north and the Karakorams in China to the east. The upper regions of this mountain valley can only be reached on foot by crossing several 15,000ft passes and has rarely been visited by westerners. Part of the research was to take DNA samples of the nomadic tribe people there to establish their genetic links to Alexander the Great and his army.Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

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July 16th, 2010 | Adventure, Expedition Medicine, Film and Media medical support, Travel, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, expedition, medical training course, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | Comment (1) | Bookmark and Share

Diving and Marine Medicine Course now CME accredited

The latest foreign course to gain accreditation through the WMS and the ACCME is the Diving and Marine Medicine Course, which this year will be in the Maldives. So not only do you get to have a fantastic, educational and exciting adventure but you also gain 20.25 CME points as well. There are only 2 places left so if this interests you, please drop us a line soon

June 29th, 2010 | CME, Dr Sean Hudson, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, diving and marine medicine, expedition, medical training course, travel doctor, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

It rained in the desert!

storm over damaralandThe 2010 Desert Course

Our foreign courses always run on a fairly fluid timetable, but this year’s Desert Course in Namibia was certainly more fluid than expected. Having never seen rain in the desert before, we had rain every day bar one, most of it torrential. A storm on the second night tried its hardest to blow down/away most of the tents and the large tarps put up by Faan, our local agent. His cooking staff had never experienced such a storm and then still managed to produce a hot meal for us all shortly afterwards.

We still had a great week. The group included some extremely experienced medics and everybody contributed to the learning.  A fascinating demonstration of snake handling from Stuart involved his venomous and non-venomous snakes and a parabusis scorpion.

We trekked in some seriously hot conditions and at times were lucky with cloud cover. One unexpected bonus was coming across a deep pool of water in a bend on a (usually permanently dry) riverbed giving us the chance to swim in the desert – magical. The view from the high peak of the Doros Crater Rim was well worth the walk in. Out final night out was luckily under the beautiful Southern Cross and the other stars as the clouds finally relented. We walked past fresh rhino tracks and saw herds of zebra, springbok and flighty ostriches as we drove out. Faan looked after us impeccably as usual.

Mother Nature surprised us again at the end of the course when the volcanic ash prevented Mark and I, and many of the course participants from flying home at our intended times. The latest person home was 10 days late and one participant endured an epic 3 day flight/train/train/ferry/train/ferry/train journey. At least we are all getting used to the unexpected.

Caroline Knox

April 28th, 2010 | Adventure, Africa, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Remote medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, desert medicine, medical training course, namibia, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Piers Carter writes about the UK course in March

Expedition Medicine March 10 UK course

Our flagship course in Keswick went well this month. We had 60 participants who experienced the full range of Lakeland weather during their time in Keswick.

Once again, Barrow House YHA hosted our course with excellent food, service and an amazing location. Whilst the programme remains broadly the same we invite new evening lecturers in and we vary the faculty. Nigel Harling did a fine job of the communications lecture and we welcomed back Dr Lesley Thomson for the diving lecture.

Our days are always a combination of indoor sessions, which include lectures, small group discussions or work groups and outdoor simulations or practical sessions. On day-1 the afternoon was a round robin of 4 mini-teaching sessions including RTC management, fracture immobilisation; wound management and managing altitude sickness. Ben Cooper ran the wound management and has developed the session into an interactive and engaging session where there are plenty of photos and bits of kit to get hands on. This went down well with all involved.

Participants were pleased to hear from Carolyn Henry from Raleigh who came up for an evening and told us about her experiences and how she had gone from being a delegate on one of our courses years ago to be Raleigh’s medical coordinator. Many of us at Expedition Medicine have history with Raleigh and we still see them as a great place to begin ones expedition career.

The highlight of day-2 is the safety on steep ground afternoon; students learn how to coil ropes, set up safe anchor points and lower colleagues off steep cliffs and drops. Also covered is the reality of improvising a carrying mechanism for various injuries.

Nigel Harling from BSES, British Schools Exploring Society, came in to explain how willing medics can travel with them and he then went on to entertain the audience with his tales of daring do and high adventure from his past and present expeditioning days. It was a memorable evening lecture and one we shall, no doubt, ask him to do again.

Day-3 has a very specific environments feel covering hot, cold, tropical, altitude and diving medicine and then closed with an excellent talk Sarah Outen. Last year Sarah rowed solo across the Indian Ocean and she told us of close encounters with whales, albatross, shops and freak storms which threatened to ‘munch her in their fangs!’ It was an inspirational talk and we wish Sarah luck on her next adventure where she intends to circumnavigate the globe by Sarah power.

The final day scenario saw the successful rescue of 6 casualties from various locations on the hill side and the arrival of the Mountain Rescue Landrover, the crew demonstrated how they would package up a casualty in one of their onboard stretchers for transportation to hospital. This looked like a somewhat more comfortable option than the rope stretchers our willing participants constructed to collect and transport their casualties.

All casualties and participants safely back to the hostel in fine weather and the final session discussed next steps and further opportunities. We staff thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we hope the participants did too. Until next time we wish all Expedition and Wilderness Medicine graduates all the very best and we look forward to seeing you on future courses.

Piers Carter

Expedition and Wilderness Medicine

April 28th, 2010 | Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, medical training course, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

CME points for UK Expedition Medicine Courses

In association with the Wilderness Medical Society our UK Expedition Medicine Courses have now been accredited for 23.75 CME. This process will start in May at the Plas Y Brenin Course. We hope this will help you all in the process of gaining funding for your training and aid in your appraisal and revalidation.

The Wilderness Medical Society is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

March 16th, 2010 | CME, Expedition Medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Medical Director Lectures at Royal Society of Medicine

One Step Forward was hosted and arranged by RSM. I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak on Expedition Medicine.

The other speakers were inspirational and it was delightful to hear a series of lectures by doctors who dont hold to the production line theory of doctor creation.

I tried to follow this theme and aimed to inspire the junior doctors and medical students to expand their horizons and experience other cultures and hopefully to become a more rounded physician in the process. I even got to lecture to Professor Kumar (Kumar and Clark)!

March 7th, 2010 | Dr Sean Hudson, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Travel, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, medical training course, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Team Amazon complete journey

Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton has completed a 2,000-mile kayak trip along the Amazon for Sport Relief, supported by Expedition Medicine

The 26-year-old was greeted by cheers and celebratory gunfire as she crossed the finish line in Almerim, Brazil.

Skelton has clocked up 2,010 miles since she set off on her solo journey from Natua in Peru on 20 January.

The BBC star, who had never been in a kayak before training, broke two world records as she became the first woman to paddle the length of the river.

The records – for the longest solo journey by kayak and the longest distance in a kayak in 24 hours by a woman – are awaiting official verification.

The TV presenter paddled about 60 miles a day, six days a week, to reach the target.

 My bottom is bruised, my shoulders are sore and the muscles in my neck are making it hard to differentiate between my head and my shoulders but to be honest I am proud of the war wounds
Helen Skelton

Skelton said of her challenge: “It’s been tough but I’ve had enough highs to make it more than worthwhile.

“I’m very lucky to have amazing people in my life who’ve picked me up when things got hard and most importantly inspired me to carry on.

“My bottom is bruised, my shoulders are sore and the muscles in my neck are making it hard to differentiate between my head and my shoulders but to be honest I am proud of the war wounds.

“I reckon that you shouldn’t shy away from things because they’re tough or you might fail. Get stuck in and you never know where you might end up.”

Blue Peter, which is showing Skelton’s epic journey in two special episodes on 16 and 17 March, hopes her efforts will inspire families across the UK to rise to their own challenge for Sport Relief.

Lucy will be updating us in the next couple of days

But well done to all the team

March 1st, 2010 | Adventure, Dr Sean Hudson, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Film and Media medical support, Jungle medicine, Media Crew Expedition Medical Support, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, across the divide, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Dr Sean Hudson writes about recent Polar Medicine course in Norway

‘There’s no snow.’ This was the text I received the week before the course. Slightly concerning since we planning on skiing, snowmobiling and dogsledding. All of which can prove difficult without snow. Snowholing may also prove to be a challenge. As I flew over Oslo it looked as if there was plenty of snow, and as we descended into Alta over the snow clad mountains the pilot announced the temperatures outside were -25. There was no snow from a Norwegian perspective but there was still plenty for us from blighty. The group were exposed to every polar weather experience: -30 whilst dogsledding, snow and wind whilst snowholing and a fabulous slush covering the surface of the ice drill. The group rose to the challenge and threw themselves into each new skill.

There were some highlights for me: the largest snow hole ever created, greatest height achieved by two ladies on a snowmobile (I had never seen the bottom of a snowmobile in flight until last week), Martin manfully getting frostbite the week before the course so that everyone could see how to dress frostbite properly, everyone did the ice drill and thankfully again no injuries. Thank you to all of you who made the course a success, from the directing staff who worked tirelessly and managed to consume 24000 calories between 4 of them in 24 hours, to the participants who had a try at everything and continued to smile and to our host at Ongajok who yet again provided us with wonderful food and accommodation. Finally thank you to the northern lights for giving us another beautiful display

February 23rd, 2010 | Dr Sean Hudson, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Uncategorized, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, expedition, polar medicine, wilderness medic | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Update on BBC’s Amazon kayak record attempt

Expedition Medicine is supporting Helen Skelton, presenter on Blue Peter, attempt to be the first woman to kayak the Amazon and here is the latest progress report on 18th February.

All are well here now. Helen and I have managed to avoid the D+V. 
 
It’s been an eventful week in Helen Skelton’s Amazon adventure. We started with Carnaval in the city of Manaus where the entire crew had to dress up and dance around a specially built Samba drome in the pouring rain. Leaving Manaus we reached the meeting of the Amazon with the Rio Negra, the biggest tributary of the Amazon. One is brown and the other is black and the waters don’t mix for several miles. A helicopter was chartered to film this event and the team were buzzing after this exciting milestone. Next came an unwanted drama with several members of the local and UK crew being affected by a viral gastroenteritis. It started with one of the kitchen staff and, despite working hard at the usual strict hygiene measures, it spread to several others. Fortunately Helen (and I) have been ok so far. The latest drama was the sinking of our support boat in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nobody was on board at the time and after several hours of hard work it was resurrected but it had to be fixed up at a boat yard upstream of our location so this cost a whole day of paddling for Helen. She’s back on track now, has just clocked 1500 miles and is going as strong as ever.
 
Rain’s coming so I’ll be off. Lucy x

February 18th, 2010 | Adventure, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Film and Media medical support, Jungle medicine, Media Crew Expedition Medical Support, Remote medicine, Travel, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, expedition, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

Expedition Medicine lecturer and wilderness medic par excellence Dr Luanne Freer organiser of ‘Everest ER’ writes about her plans for 2010

 

The Everest base camp medical clinic “Everest ER” will be on the mountain in April 2010 for our 8th season (!)  As always, we offer services to base camp climbers, support staff and trekkers-through in support of our mission to prevent and treat illness at high altitude and to use proceeds for care from non-Nepalis to subsidize free or low cost health care for our Nepali friends.  The 2010 staff will be comprised of myself, Lakpa Norbu Sherpa (our faithful logistics coordinator,) Dr Steve Halvorson, and Dr. Peter Hackett, longtime HRA volunteer and world renowned altitude expert (and Everest summitteer!) will join us for the month of May.  We plan to carry out a research project aimed at answering a plaguing question a high altitudes everywhere – what’s the best treatment for high altitude “Khumbu” cough?

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February 16th, 2010 | Adventure, Everest, Expedition Doctor, Expedition Medicine, Remote medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, expedition, medical training course, mountain medicine, travel doctor, travel medic, wilderness medic, wilderness medicine | No Comments | Bookmark and Share

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