The Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) course is one of Europe’s longest and most demanding wilderness medical programmes.
Certified for 54 contact hours by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, it delivers over 80 hours of intensive training across 8 days—from Sunday evening to the following Sunday (with an end-of-course party to celebrate).
Designed for those providing advanced care in remote environments, WEMT goes far beyond basic first aid—you’re expected to arrive with those skills already. This course transforms you from a trained responder into a confident, adaptable practitioner, capable of working independently, in teams, or with remote support.
The focus is on patient assessment, sound clinical judgement, and real-world incident management. We prioritise principles over rigid protocols—so you can think critically and adapt your care to any situation.
Syllabus
The WEMT course covers a comprehensive range of wilderness medicine topics, with regular hands-on training and teamwork in challenging conditions. We continually update the course each year based on new developments and student feedback.
It currently includes:
Core topics:
- Altitude illness
- Bites & stings
- Burns
- Case studies in wilderness rescue cold disorders
- Communications
- Crush injuries
- Death & dying
- Drowning
- Expedition mental health heat illness introduction to WEMSI
- Lightning
- Major incidents
- Management of pain
- Medical problems
- Neck injuries
- Neurological examination and practical orthopaedics
- Patient assessment
- Principles of general medicine pharmacology
- Surgical problems
- Thermoregulation wilderness trauma
Practical skills:
- Casting fractures
- Casualty packaging & transport
- Casualty movement and handling cleaning & closing wounds
- Helmet removal
- Long term care issues
- Major haemorrhage control
- Measuring vital signs
- Nail trephining
- Reduction of dislocations
- Ring removal
- Splinting
- Tourniquets
- Taping sprains
- Use of advanced airways use of inhalers.
Pre-Course Requirements
Students come from varied backgrounds, but all must have completed a minimum of first-responder-level training or FREC3 and have practical experience applying those skills. If in doubt whether you meet the pre-course requirements, please contact us before booking to avoid refund admin costs.
Registered health care professionals (doctors, independent prescribers and paramedics) might find the Wilderness Practitioner course more suitable.
Please check if with your relevant governing body whether this course meets their requirements.