Pre-med expedition medicine experiential course

Structure of course

This 4-week course in Honduras is aimed at giving Pre-Med students the opportunity to experience how to provide medical support to teams working on expeditions in remote areas.  The first 3 weeks of the course are run in the Cusuco National Park cloud forest with the last week at the marine research centre on Utila Island off the northern Honduran coast.  During week 1, the group will complete the field practical elements of the jungle survival course HM001; during the remaining part of that week when the groups are back at Base Camp, the first part of the medical lectures and practicals will be run (Modules 1 - 2).

In week 2, half of the week will be spent completing the DNA course HM003 and learning how to extract DNA material in remote field conditions. The remaining part of the week will cover modules 3 - 6 of the medical lectures and practicals. In week 3, the experiential medical students will be spread amongst the various core and buffer zone research camps in Cusuco Park in pairs to work alongside the medic at each of the sites.  Generally, from a medical viewpoint there is not too much to do at these camps, so most of the time will be spent helping on the biodiversity surveys including emptying dung beetle pitfall traps, helping with point counts for birds, standard search times and spotlighting for reptiles and amphibians, tapir transects, etc.

In week 4, the group will move to Utila Island where they will be completing a PADI Open Water dive training course HU004 or doing the Caribbean reef ecology course HU007 if already qualified.  During this week, they will have the chance to visit a hyperbaric chamber.

The Expedition Medicine Experiential course has the following learning objectives:

·        To understand the roles of an expedition doctor

·        To understand the necessity for pre-expedition, expedition, and post-expedition planning

·        To gain specific knowledge of particular emergencies in the field and their treatment

·        To have an appreciation of location (country) specific tropical diseases

·        To gain experience in treatment of patients with field-specific (limited) kit

·        To experience living in a tropical forest and working with a range of biologists on biodiversity surveys

·        To understand how to extract DNA samples in the field

·        To complete a PADI Open Water dive qualification or, if already qualified, a Caribbean Reef Ecology course.

The Expedition Medicine experiential course provides formal teaching in the form of interactive lectures (core knowledge) coupled with mentorship by doctors working out in the field in various sites to gain experience in clinical diagnosis and treatment. The mentors will provide individual assessments for each of the students at the end of the placement.  Note the course does not provide training in expedition medicine that can then be used as a qualification to practice expedition medicine.

Taught modules

Each module comprises lectures and practicals in the field carried out under supervision of a trained medic.  The modules and their learning objectives are listed below:

Module 1: Pre-expedition Planning

·        To understand the need for multidisciplinary pre-expedition planning

·        To be able to develop medical emergency and evacuation plans

·        To understand the process and need for pre-expedition screening of team members

·        To suggest appropriate contents for a medical field kit appropriate to the circumstances

·        To be able to draft risk assessments for different elements of the expedition

Module 2: Medical Emergencies & Trauma in the Field

·        To be able to identify common medical emergencies and stratify them by system (anaphylaxis, asthma, diabetic emergencies, heat & dehydration, gastroenteritis and hygiene)

·        To understand the process of rapid triage

·        To have a practical approach to treating medical emergencies in the field

·        To have an appreciation of ATLS principles in the field

·        To participate in a mock casualty in the field exercise and demonstrate learned skills

Module 3: Tropical Infections

·        To have an understanding of tropical infections including malaria, rabies, dengue fever and DHF

·        To have an awareness of lifecycles, clinical presentations, and pathophysiology

·        To develop a practical approach to diagnosis and treatment

·        To understand strategies of infection avoidance

Module 4: Snake Bite & Envenomation

·        To understand the different types of snake venom

·        To have a general understanding of clinical presentation of snake bite and envenomation

·        To understand the initial approach to treatment of snake bites in the field

·        To have an appreciation for the indications of antivenom and its side effects

Module 5: Dive Medicine

·        To be able to list the contra-indications to SCUBA diving

·        To be aware of the clinical presentations of major diving emergencies & their treatment (DCI & CAGE, carbon dioxide narcosis, oxygen toxicity, acute CNS toxicity, barotrauma)

·        To be able to demonstrate a practical approach to the emergency treatment of DCI in the field

·        To be able to provide first aid treatment of minor ailments in a marine environment (ear emergencies, bites and stings)

Costs and dates