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Wilderness medicine book?

PropThePolecat

PropThePolecat

Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Messages
3,292
Hey guys

Im looking to buy a book on wilderness and expedition medicine, but the sheer number of books available is mindnumbing.

Been looking at "The Wilderness Medicine Book" which is waaaaay to expensive and "Oxford Handbook Of Expedition And Wilderness Medicine".

Do you know any books that you recommend? Im not looking at books that explains only the basics, im looking for some more in-depth material.


Thanks
 
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I have Dr. Eric Weiss's "Wilderness 911 - A Step by Step Guide for Medical Emergencies and Improvised Care in the Backcountry".
Concise concepts/explanations and useful tips. Dr. Weiss is of Adventure Medical Kits fame and specializes in this field if you want to look him up.

I don't know how "in depth" you may find it though, maybe Save Lives, Save Limbs by Hans Husum et al, would be more apt. I haven't gotten around to buying it though, but from what my former boss says, it is quite advanced especially in the area of field trauma. It was developed based on the experiences for caring for land mine victims and "third-world conditions", countries like ours.
 
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The NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute has a few for sale. They're one of the best regarded places on WM.

The latest Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook is supposed to be excellent. You should be aware that there are two versions and you want the newest version....make sure Operations is in the title. It's not cheap but it has a huge amount of information and includes subjects like veterinary medicine and sanitation practice under primitive conditions.
 
Try Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine. Last I checked, it is over $150 but it is the best I've seen.
 
....I'm going to dig it out again. Medicine for Mountaineering is a good overall back country guide. If you want a more global look at long term primitive health books such as "Where there are no Doctors" or "Barefoot Physican" can be good. One that is often mentioned but I have no personal experience with is "Ditch Medicine" Good Luck with your library.
 
k_estela said:
Try Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine. Last I checked, it is over $150 but it is the best I've seen.
Click to expand...

I googled this and amazon came up with a field guide that Auerbach co-authored for about $30

Have you seen this one and if so, how is it?
 
I notice you are in Europe and do not know if there is a supporting organization in Wilderness First Aid. Before spending money on an expensive textbook, I would first recommend going for training in a specialized course on wilderness first aid. Costs are typically between $300 to $500 for 4 d (8h/d) courses depending on the organization.

They are well worth it in terms of providing plenty of 'practice under pressure' drills that I found to be way more valuable than skim reading of a textbook. Perhaps you already have this kind of training or more advanced. I don't know your situation. However, I think this would be a better investment to start than buying a comprehensive book.

As for myself, I teach a human physiology class to nurses at the university level and therefore in my areas of teaching have a very good understanding of human anatomy and physiology and mechanistic basis of some types of medicines. That all sounds good on paper, but having taken the course it reaffirmed that my 'academic egghead' knowledge really didn't replicate the kinds of things I need to know under emergency medical scenarios. The wilderness first aid also provided a heck of a lot more comprehensive training than basic first aid which I already had going into the course.
 
@kgd

Im under no illusion that buying a book will turn me into wilderness medicine expert. Im first and foremost buying a book on this subject so ill have something edcucational to read during these dark and gloomy winter-months.
Ive got a little outdoor library by now, with books on survival, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, navigation, hiking guides and so forth. Firstaid is just an addition to my little collection.

Ive actually looked into participating on a wilderness firstaid course, but the only thing i could find was a mountaineering firstaid/rescue course which requred a basic knowledge of climbing, and im unfortunately no climber (even though i have a book on the subject :D) . I do have basic firstaid and lifeguard related firstaid though. But im still looking to find a course here in Scandinavia.
 
The book's ISBN is 0323009506
 
DiverDn said:
I googled this and amazon came up with a field guide that Auerbach co-authored for about $30

Have you seen this one and if so, how is it?
Click to expand...

There is a smaller field guide that is a companion to the fuller size medical text. This is a quality book, an ER doc I know even recommended it ot me, as he has a copy. I would say that only get this if you are already fairly well trained/experienced with first aid.
 
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