About 25 people die from lightning-related injuries per year in the United States. You are much more likely to encounter anaphylaxis than lightning in your program, yet we treat anaphylaxis much differently. With lightning, we have limited means to protect ourselves--the experts say there is no safe place outdoors in a lightning storm. Yet with anaphylaxis, we have a known solution.
Epinephrine presents some complicated medical, legal, and ethical questions. Despite the complications, these questions are worth asking. Epinephrine has profound implications for our industry. Medically speaking, the Wilderness Medical Society supports “the concept that properly trained, nonmedical professionals whose work responsibilities require them to provide emergency medical care be trained to appropriately administer epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis.” When given the opportunity, wouldn’t you want to carry a lifesaving drug in your first aid kit?
Katie Wall, WEMT
Appalachian State University, Outdoor Programs
Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School
Landmark Learning
References
Curtis, R. (2015, March 25). Epinephrine: Medical & ethical necessity of legal
nightmare. www.outdoored.com/articles/epinephrine-medical-ethical-necessity-or-legal-nightmare
Gaudio, F., Lemery, J.; & Johnson, D. (2014). Wilderness Medical Society practice
guidelines for the use of epinephrine in outdoor education and wilderness settings: 2014 update. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. 25, S15-S18.
Hawkins, S. & Yacubian, D. (2014, October). Where are we now? Epinephrine and
outdoor programming 2014. Presented at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Sampson, H., Muñoz-Furlong, A., Campbell, R., et al. Second symposium on the
definition and management of anaphylaxis: Summary report--Second National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network symposium. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2006; 117:391.
Schimelpfenig, T. (2012). NOLS wilderness medicine, 5th edition. Mechanicsburg, PA:
Stackpole Books.