Objective
To identify how previous medical and wilderness training correlate to levels of preparedness for acute mountain sickness (AMS) as well as illness and injury in backcountry hikers. Few previous studies have directly assessed preparedness in the backcountry.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional, convenience survey on trails in 4 sections of the Rocky Mountain National Park during 2 weeks in July and August 2015. The study group consisted of 379 hikers in the backcountry who consented to a written survey that assessed demographics, wilderness experience, altitude experience, hiking equipment, communications devices, and pretrip planning.
Results
Factors including wilderness training (WFA/WFR/WEMT), wilderness experience, and altitude experience all affected hiker preparedness. Respondents with medical training were more prepared for injury and illness in the backcountry compared with those without medical training, (37.7% vs 20.7%, p
Conclusions
Medically trained and wilderness-trained individuals are more likely to be prepared for altitude and medical trauma than their nontrained counterparts. While it is neither practical nor feasible to train most hikers to be emergency medical technicians, nurses, or physicians, our data suggest that wilderness training is helpful in mitigating risk in the backcountry.