Retention of Wilderness First Aid Knowledge

August 10, 2012 By Clarke Green

An article from Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal examines the retention of skills for those trained in wilderness first aid and concludes:

Without additional training, regular use of the course content, or efforts to refresh thinking on key topics, the ability of WFA students to effectively apply their learning will likely decrease as time from training increases. With respect to these WFA courses, student scores on written tests did not accurately reflect competence in performing practical skills related to a medical scenario. In addition, student self-confidence in the ability to perform such skills did not strongly correlate with actual skills and ability.

Getting trained in WFA once is not enough – just like any training that you may not apply often, knowledge and skill tends to diminish over time.

It’s time for me to renew my WFA training; how about you?

See Wilderness First Aid—What Is It and Why Should You Care? for an explanation and training opportunities.

The complete article from the WEM is behind a (rather expensive) pay wall here

Tags: First Aid, Safe Scouting

About Clarke Green

Clarke has worked with thousands of Scouts and Scouters as a director at his local Scout Camp (Camp Horseshoe), and as a Scoutmaster for 30 years. He is the recipient of a number of awards recognizing his service to Scouting, including the B.S.A.’s Silver Beaver, District Award of Merit, and is a Vigil Honor member of Octoraro Lodge 22. He is author of the blog and podcast at Scoutmastercg.com, The Scouting Journey, and Thoughts on Scouting. An avid outdoorsman and amateur actor, he lives in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania with his wife Teddi.

Comments

RNCJr says

August 14, 2012 at 10:52 am

I believe the same about First Aid and CPR, as well. So how is a layman to maintain his skills at a level of effective competence? I think a quarterly or even monthly mini-course might be effective.
Adam Cox says

August 10, 2012 at 12:28 pm

I recently took WFA because I wanted to learn more. I have the First Aid/CPR, though still needing the AED certification.

I learned a lot of practical applications during the WFA. Yes, you need to keep up with training to keep the skills fresh. Mind you, I took this as I am currently a Cubmaster. I however used these skills several weeks later on a family vacation. My daughter who is 7.5 years old suffered a serious crash while riding her bike. We were 1 hour away from the nearest hospital.

This training helped in many ways. The one good thing is that a family we were vacationing with, the husband is a Physicians Assistant in the local ER. He is also my Bear Den Leader and Eagle Scout with a Heroism award as a Scout.

I would take this class again. Check your local Red Cross for class times.