Whether or not you have received training for first aid, it’s likely been hammered down your throat just how important having the proper skills for first aid is.
After all, it can literally be what would save someone’s life, either by removing the threat entirely, or buying enough time for the paramedics to do get there and begin proper treatment.
So, you may be wondering, is wilderness first aid the same with first aid in the city? It’s actually a little more complicated than it seems.
Priorities
For both wilderness and city first aid, their biggest priority is practically equal: Whether it’s stopping a bleeding patient, or checking for other injuries, both types of first aid have the overwhelming priority of removing the immediate threat.
However, what they do after this differs greatly. Thanks to the relative safety of being in a city, the place is highly likely to be in a human-controlled environment, meaning that city first aid responders will have more leeway in controlling the patient.
In comparison, being out in the wilderness means that you can never be too sure of unknown variables such as wild animals or unfavorable weather conditions suddenly coming in, meaning that first aid responders would need to prioritize in making sure the environment is safe first before proceeding with further treatment.
Training
City first aid training focuses on reducing hazards in a workplace such as an office and factory. If a worker is critically injured, they are trained to be sent to an emergency room as soon as possible (ideally an hour or less)
Wilderness first aid training focuses more on reducing risks for people who want to go out and adventure, by teaching them important items to carry around while hiking or camping, as well as important things to do in an emergency to stop a bad situation from turning even worse. It also means them taking note of what to do and what not to do in an unfamiliar environment (such as not eating mushrooms you cannot fully identify).
Time
City first aid responders are trained to get patients in hospitals as soon as possible, especially since critical injuries may be grave or fatal the longer it takes to get them in an operating table. Machinery can be especially dangerous when handled incorrectly and has caused many unfortunate workplace accidents.
Due to being in closer proximity to hospitals in general, this means that patients are likely to survive if operated on as early as possible.
In comparison, most injuries out in the wilderness are not as grave as ones inflicted in the city where they require immediate treatment, such as things like bleeding, or fractured bones.
Still, that does not mean that they can just be left as is, which is why proper medical aid must be performed as soon as possible.
Obviously, when you are stuck in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile environment, this will not be possible, so wilderness first aid responders would need to keep the patient company by watching over them and treating them to prevent further complications, at least until proper help arrives. This can take as little as a few hours to as long as a few days.
Communication
Being in the city means that you have access to a lot of people and great cellphone coverage to call for help, allowing first responders to appear on the scene much quicker for city first aid responders.
On the other hand, even the best cellphone towers do not reach all across the world yet, so someone who is injured has the highest chance of survival by being with you, at least until proper help arrives.
Resources
City first aid responders have a lot of resources on hand, especially if they have a clinic nearby or in the workplace itself. This means that they are able to give proper treatment to a good amount of injuries.
Wilderness first aid responders are only limited to the items that they have in their first aid kit, as they simply cannot carry that many antibiotics or bandages to account for every kind of injury.
Instead, they need to predict the highest chance of a specific type of injury occurring while adventuring, and to plan what they bring accordingly. Bleeding from scrapes, for instance, is an extremely common injury occurs a lot thanks to the unstable ground of the wilderness.
Environment
As mentioned earlier, cities have the advantage of being in a more controlled environment, which means appropriate places to lay a patient down like a bed or another flat surface when required are plentiful. Weather hazards are of no problem either, as a patient can simply be held inside a building until first responders arrive to bring them in an ambulance.
Unfortunately, this means the entire opposite for the wilderness. You will not have access to proper surfaces to prop a patient down on, so you will have to make do with what you can find (stones, logs, etc.). Plus, there is also the inherent risk of terrible weather and wild animals making things worse especially if you do not have a proper shelter to hide in.
Wrapping Up
When in the wilderness, the most important skills one must have are situational awareness and adaptability, in addition to being able to render proper first aid treatment, thanks to the uncertain nature of the environment, and the fact that disaster can strike at practically any moment.
Unlike city first aid, wilderness first aid is much harder and may rely on you and you alone to get a person back to safety, especially if you are too far away to call for help. That means having to evacuate a patient based on the resources that you already have on hand and getting back to safety.
It is also important to note that training for handling certain injuries are different too. Workplace injuries are not much help in the wilderness, and vice versa. Things like sprains and dislocations are not properly addressed at the very least in a wilderness context for city first aid training.
If you aim to become proficient in first aid of both contexts, it may be a good idea to invest in both types to understand your priorities on what to do depending on your environment.