New ISU program prepares physicians with wilderness medicine training

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) Some resident doctors are getting the chance to learn outside of a traditional hospital environment. Instead, they’re taking their training to the wild.

It’s apart of Idaho State University's new wilderness medicine program. The training will teach physicians the skills to stabilize a patient, render care and transport a patient safely in rural areas.

“We are training physicians specifically to be equipped to serve people in the wilderness, in global health, anywhere where you provide medical care in an austere environment,” wilderness program director, A.J. Weinhold said.

That includes on the trails, the ski-slopes, and everywhere in between.

“These people are specifically trained to render aid when they come across you on the trail after you’ve been injured, and these people are resources to the community in areas like search and rescue and ski patrol,” Weinhold said

Not only is it a resource for the community, but it could also help the medical industry statewide. Idaho is ranked 48 out of the 50 states for Doctor to Patient ratio.

“We need more doctors, so if we can draw people here to do their training and they discover how much they love it and they want to stay, then that’s a benefit.”

Idaho State University is one of 1.6% of family medicine programs in the nation to have a wilderness medicine training program.