INTO THE WILDE
“That weekend you
went away on looked so much fun, I
want to come next time but…what exactly is
it?” - If I had a pound for every I’ve had a
conversation to this effect, post-hike drinks
would definitely be on me. Really, that’s
where getting stuck in to the Wilderness
society started for me – loving long days of
walking, a hunger for fast paced medicine
and a hazy memory of drinking cider around
a firepit with some very persuasive older
years. I can tell you, at times I don’t
understand what I’ve gotten myself into any
more than some of you might understand
what on earth it is.
opening insights
into how unbound your career could
be if you deviate from a regimented road to
consultancy, but they also tend to lead into
socials to be remembered and hangovers to be
forgotten. It’s a platform to find likeminded,
typically-outdoorsy individuals who like to escape
the academic rat race by casually walk the
Yorkshire three peaks in their day off CCT before
masking the pains of aching legs in the pub
thereafter. Whatever its origins might once have
been, Wilderness Medicine has transitioned into a
well established and recognised podium of inter-
disciplinary and inter-university adventure. Tell
medical friends at other Universities that you’ve
got yourself involved with your Wilderness
society, and they’re likely to respond with a
I can’t give you the layman’s definition of
memory
or (at least) knowledge of the last
what Wilderness Medicine is because, much
raucous
weekend
that their own wilderness soc
like browsing the recommended section of
hosted.
The
annual
student conferences and Wild
Netflix for a Sunday night fix, you could
Trials
–
an
interuniversity
pre-hospital scenario
spend far too much time deliberating the
competition
that
wilderness
societies bid to host –
exact answer and it’s very much open to
have
provided
the
framework
for this national
interpretation. My go-to summary is to
mingling
and
sharing
of
events
and contacts.
explain it from two approaches: first, is to
regard ‘wilderness medicine’ as being the
practice of what we do in anywhere that isn’t Part of the attraction of getting more involved with
a standard hospital. Yes, this gives it a very Liverpool’s own wilderness society for me was
prehospital-and-emergency-medicine based attending one of the “intro” courses, where I found
myself socialising with students from as far off as
curriculum, but also encompasses more
Holland
and encompassing more of the MDT than
global themes like tropical medicine and
just
doctors
Thanks to many such contacts we’ve
practice in challenging or rural
made
in
the
past, our events are well attended by
environments. Think of medics
nurses,
paramedics,
non-medics and we’re able
accompanying artic expeditions, volunteers
to
share
events
with
pre-hospital
aspirants at
delivering primary care in temporary
distant
medical
schools.
Previous
attendees of
infirmaries after natural disasters and search
our
courses
(and
even
committee
members) have
and rescue teams descending into caves to
ranged from anatomists to geographers and
rescue trapped potholers.
physiologists to law students. Perhaps the reason
The second is to embrace the society as
for
this in the sort of person that wilderness
medicine-let-loose – medical
appeals
to – individuals who desire to undertake
mountaineering, so to speak. The courses
varied
work
with as broad a range of colleagues
and conferences provide not only eye-
'WHAT EXACTYLY IS
IT?'
as there are
toppings you can throw on a 6
inch sub, and wish to make the sort of
contacts now that might one day allow them to
do so. The sort of people that seek out
seemingly random and exhilarating
experiences, both in student life and in career
development, in the knowledge that simple
living would drive them insane.
'RANDOM AND
EXHILIRATING
EXPERIENCES'
With the above in mind, the beauty of
wilderness medicine really is that it can appeal
to almost everyone, at least a little. Often, I
find I’m asked who a “real” wilderness medic
becomes in the long term and, once again,
there’s no real answer. Your stereotypical
wilderness medic is a practitioner who has
tried to play the field by keeping it broad and
training in ACCS, GP or ED and likes to
balance locuming in hospitals with long leaves
of absence on exciting projects outside of the
wards. Picture taking as many F3 years as
you physically can just to trot off working as
the medic on Bear Grylls – the Island or an
expedition leader for Raleigh (and if you don’t
believe me, take a quick look at
theadventuremedic.com/jobs and see for
yourself some of the far-flung listings). The
reality is that, before you can sink your teeth
into dreams of resolving international crises
for Médecins Sans Frontières, you’re going to
have to sell your soul to voluntary work.
permanently-paid holiday.
As if being at one with the concept of free
labour wasn’t enough of a minimum
requirement, like everything in life, the good
things in Wilderness Medicine don’t come for