A special Area of Concentration (AOC) at Nellis FMR is Wilderness Medicine. Although some may be surprised to think of wilderness when they think of Las Vegas, we have an abundant amount of backcountry and all types of environments here. Our Wilderness Medicine program has multiple aspects all lead by staff and residents. Three times a year we hold our "Wild Weekend" course (for times, contact us using the contact form below) which includes classroom and in-the-field teaching. Our residents and medical students learn survival, navigation, and backcountry medical skills--including envenomations, trauma, infections, etc. These courses allow everyone to participate: students, residents and staff. We are even supplied with state of the art training supplies through the program. People who have completed this course truly enjoyed it... and the food at camp is pretty darn good too!
Further opportunities include the chance to complete the Wilderness Medical Society
Fellow of Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). Multiple faculty advisors are Fellows in wilderness medicine, and other residents are currently earning the required credits to complete the course. These opportunities exist because of the support from the Nellis FMR program to include CME to WMS conferences.
Wilderness Medicine Rotations:Residents have the opportunity to rotate in month-long rotations at a regional national park medical clinic to gain experience in austere medical environments. In the past, other residents have successfully done other Wilderness/Austere rotations with the
Public Health Service (PHS) where they were exposed to wilderness trauma, bites and exposure injuries. Another newly added rotation allows residents to travel to Alaska, where they provide care for members of the Native tribes.
The Nellis FMR Wilderness Medicine program is extremely flexible, able to be tailored to whatever you want it to be. Our vision is to allow residents to design AOC programs which allows learning in areas that they are passionate about (and have fun at the same time). With every conceivable environmental challenge within 4 hours of Vegas the opportunities are boundless, and the preparation for future worldwide operational medicine challenges in the Air Force is paramount.