How it's structured
Lessons run 20–45 minutes each and are built for phones as much as laptops. Every lesson ends with scenarios (commit to a plan before you read the reasoning) and a quiz that explains every answer. Nothing is timed, nothing is tracked beyond your own browser, and you can repeat anything as often as you like. The order matters: the first five lessons are the operating system, and everything after is applications.
The syllabus
| # | Lesson | Practical skills you come away with |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Provider Safety | Scene size-up, Standard Precautions (gloves, every patient), keeping one patient from becoming two |
| 2 | Patient Assessment | XABCDE primary survey, head-to-toe exam, SAMPLE/OPQRST histories, serial vitals and trends, AVPU |
| 3 | Airway & Breathing | Recognizing obstruction, jaw thrust, recovery position, rescue breathing, adult/child/infant choking response, CPR basics |
| 4 | Bleeding & Wounds | Direct pressure done properly, wound packing, tourniquets, wound cleaning and dressing, infection watch |
| 5 | Shock | Reading early skin/pulse/mental-status signs, positioning, insulation, why the trend beats the snapshot |
| 6 | Musculoskeletal Injuries | Splinting with what you carry, CSM checks before and after, sprains vs fractures, slings and swathes |
| 7 | Spine Injuries | Mechanism recognition, the spine questions, motion restriction, moving a patient as one unit, helmet decisions |
| 8 | Heat Illness | Cramps → exhaustion → stroke recognition, cool-first-in-place doctrine, hydration and hyponatremia judgment |
| 9 | Cold Injuries | The hypothermia wrap, gentle handling, shivering as a gauge, frostbite and the refreeze rule |
| 10 | Anaphylaxis & Allergies | Two-system recognition, assisting with an epinephrine auto-injector, second doses, why antihistamines don't substitute |
| 11 | Medical Emergencies | Chest pain and aspirin, stroke recognition, diabetic emergencies and sugar, asthma, seizures, abdominal red flags |
| 12 | Bites & Stings | Snakebite done right (and the myths, retired), stingers, spiders, ticks, rabies risk judgment |
| 13 | Evacuation Decisions | Go/stay decisions, send-for-help notes, messenger rules, MIST reports, helicopter and litter basics |
| 14 | Water & Lightning | Drowning response (breaths first), cold-water immersion, lightning position and reverse triage |
| 15 | Kits & Trip Preparation | Building a kit that earns its weight, trip planning, communication plans, pre-trip medical prep |
Gear required
To take the course
- A phone or computer. That's the list.
- No account, no payment, no downloads.
To practice the hands-on skills
- Nitrile gloves (a few pairs)
- A roller bandage or elastic wrap
- Gauze pads and a triangular bandage
- A foam pad, spare layer, or sleeping bag (splint + wrap practice)
- A trekking pole, stick, or foam splint to improvise with
- A willing, padded, complaining friend
The full recommended field kit — what to actually carry — is its own page: the kit checklist, printable and organized by priority. The one-page assessment flow is on the field reference card.
Checking your knowledge
Every lesson has its own quiz — 158 questions across the course, each with an explanation. When you've finished lessons 1–14, the final exam asks 40 questions drawn from all of them; pass it and you can print a record of completion with your name, score, and date. It's a record of work done, not a certification — Wilderness First Aid isn't a regulated credential, and we don't pretend to issue one. Then pressure-test everything in the practice scenarios: sixteen interactive cases where the patient evolves in real time and your mistakes have consequences you can learn from safely.