Scope of Practice: Wilderness First Aid (WFA)

As you may know, a number of people from a variety of wilderness training organization wrote a Scope of Practice (SOP) document in 2010 for Wilderness First Aid (WFA) courses.  The intent was to clearly articulate what we believe to be the intended audience of such a course and what a graduate of a 16 hour WFA should be trained to recognize and address when in the field.  We did this in part to respond to what I believe have been unsatisfactory efforts by other groups and to answer the suggestion that there is no standard.  This document is not binding to anyone, and is not considered as a WFA curriculum as such.

The list of the SOP authors represents organizations that have taught literally tens of thousands of students across North America and on every other continent for more than 30 years.  In turn, their instructors are actively engaged in outdoor pursuits and have some level of medical responsibility.  Some of the authors are also involved in a parallel effort to publish a paper that lays out the scientific evidence that underpins this information.

The WFA Scope of Practice was revised in 2012 as part of an ongoing process of review and upgrade.