The goal of the Wilderness Medicine Fellowship is to train physicians to prepare for medical emergencies in austere environments, manage the potential medical needs of a population entering into an austere environment, and both respond to and manage a broad array of emergencies that may occur in that environment. This preparation will result from the provision of a strong background in wilderness medicine skills, theory and competencies. In addition to theory, our department includes clinical practice at a tertiary care center and a critical access island hospital. The Pacific Ocean, several mountain peaks up to 11,000 feet and the high desert are all easily accessible from our campus.
Trainees who pursue a career in academic medicine will possess the skills to serve as a director of instructional wilderness medicine or serve in a leadership capacity for the undergraduate or graduate medical education curriculum.
Fellows will learn through organized didactics, projects, technical skills courses and clinical experience. During the fellowship, the trainee will develop and implement at least two longitudinal educational projects.
- The first project must have a scholarly component that leads to presentations or publication.
- The second project can include, but is not limited to:
- The development of manual technical skills with additional training such as:
- Mountain medicine/alpinism courses
- Search and rescue courses
- Diving and hyperbaric courses
- Attending and provide training with local public safety agencies
- Collaboration in national and international projects and opportunities (subject to limited availability per year):
- Divers Alert Network
- Ultramarathons or sports events
- Collaboration with the University of Hawaii on marine envenomation
- Himalayan Rescue Association
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- The development of manual technical skills with additional training such as:
In addition to these projects and training, the fellow must also:
- Integrate wilderness medicine topics into the Emergency Medicine Residency curriculum, Journal Clubs, and medical student and civilian interest groups.
- Participate in emergency medicine Grand Rounds and present a minimum of two wilderness medicine lectures.
- Serve as a mentor to residents and medical students interested in wilderness medicine.
- Develop wilderness medicine-related educational initiatives through online courses, social media platforms and/or podcasts.
- Contribute to the design and direction of the annual multi-hospital resident field training exercise in wilderness medicine.
- Support wilderness medicine education aspects of the Mammoth Mountain Emergency Medicine Conference.
- Practice clinically for a minimum of three weeks per year at a critical access hospital, Catalina Island Medical Center, 26 miles off the coast of Southern California.
Fellows are also encouraged to attend and participate in wilderness-related national and international conferences.
1 Year
We have been granted three-year Wilderness Medical Society GME accreditation. Our fellow will obtain FAWM credentialing at the end of their fellowship year. We have also applied for SAEM GME credentialing.
Teaching modules will be based on “Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine” and supplemental reading included below. Each module is taught through one-hour, biweekly didactics conducted by wilderness medicine division staff. These meetings are open to residents, staff and other members of the UCI EM community:
Module 1: Introduction to wilderness medicine and research planning
Module 2: Mountain medicine, including high altitude, lightning, avalanche
Module 3: Heat and cold
Module 4: Burns, fire and radiation
Module 5: Wilderness injuries and medical interventions, including prevention, care, analgesia and improvised management techniques
Module 6: Rescue and survival, including EMS/pre-hospital personnel guidelines, technical rescue, care during wilderness situations such as in a cave, safe transfers and care inside helicopters, and essentials of short- and long-term survival
Module 7: Animals, insects, zoonoses, plant identification and prevention of toxic ingestions, bites and envenomation
Module 8: Basics of navigation, incident command system (asynchronous learning via DHS)
Module 9: Food and water, including water disinfection, infectious diarrhea, nutrition, malnutrition and starvation
Module 10: Marine medicine, including drowning, dive medicine and hyperbaric oxygen
Module 11: Disaster medicine
Module 12: Equipment and special knowledge, including wilderness equipment and supplies, outdoor clothing, navigation techniques, risk avoidance during travel, development of a medical support plan and management
We highly encourage the fellow to pick a wilderness experience or training of their choice to solidify theory learned in the classroom. The division will accommodate this activity around other clinical and fellowship duties.
Candidates are required to be emergency medicine-trained and board-eligible. In addition to demonstrating scholastic achievement and a solid academic foundation, prospective fellows should also have leadership experience and have participated in wilderness medicine-related activities. Clinical exposure and research experience, as well as community service, are highly desirable.
Candidates must submit a curriculum vitae, letter of intent, and two or three letters of recommendation. We recommend that one of the letters of recommendation be from your program director. Possession of a certificate of emergency medicine program completion and a California medical license are conditional on starting the fellowship.
To apply, email the above materials to ialgazeg@uci.edu and CC rkatzer@uci.edu.
