Why International Wilderness Life Support?

Most medical training happens indoors, with labs, imaging, consultants, and rapid transport close at hand. But what happens when you’re:

  • On a remote trek or expedition

  • Volunteering overseas in a low-resource setting

  • Responding to a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis

  • Caring for patients where evacuation is delayed or impossible

IWLS gives you the framework, mindset, and practical tools to assess, stabilize, improvise, and lead in these environments—while staying within your scope and prioritizing safety.

Designed Specifically for Medical Professionals

We assume you already know medicine. IWLS focuses on how to apply that knowledge when conditions are far from ideal—outdoors, internationally, or in crisis settings. This course is thoughtfully designed for:

  • Physicians (MDs/DOs)

  • Nurse Practitioners & Physician Assistants

  • Registered Nurses

  • Experienced healthcare professionals seeking austere medicine training

Why Learn With MedTreks

IWLS is developed by MedTreks International, a team of medical professionals, educators, and global travelers who live at the intersection of medicine, adventure, and purpose.

Our faculty bring decades of experience in:

  • Wilderness and expedition medicine

  • Global health and humanitarian work

  • Medical education for clinicians in the real world


What You’ll Learn

IWLS blends wilderness medicine, travel medicine, global health, and disaster response into one cohesive, practical curriculum. You’ll gain confidence in:

  • Patient assessment without technology – refining your physical exam and decision-making skills when diagnostics are limited

  • Managing common and high-risk conditions in austere environments – trauma, environmental exposure, infection, altitude, dehydration, and more

  • Evacuation and risk assessment – when to stay, when to move, and how to do it safely

  • Cultural humility & global health awareness – practicing medicine respectfully across cultures and systems

  • Preparation for overseas work – what to know before you go, and how to plug into opportunities responsibly

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome! We are so glad you are here

    2. Welcome Message from MedTreks CEO, Ari Rasori

    3. What Makes International Wilderness Medicine

    1. Intro & Background on International Wilderness Medicine

    1. Patient Assessment

    2. Test Your Knowledge - Patient Assessment

    3. C-Spine Updates

    4. Text Your Knowledge - C-Spine Updates

    1. Animal, Insect, Arthropod, & Marine Bites & Stings

    2. Snake Bites

    3. Malaria (45 Minutes)

    4. Test Your Knowledge - Malaria & Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

    1. Avalanche Medicine

    1. Drowning & Whitewater Medicine

    2. Test Your Knowledge - Drowning & Whitewater Medicine

    3. Dive Medicine

    4. Test Your Knowledge - Dive Medicine

    5. Ocean Survival

    6. Test Your Knowledge - Ocean Survival

About this course

  • $795.00
  • 46 lessons
  • 0 hours of video content

Who This Course Is For

  • Love being outdoors and want to feel more prepared medically

  • Are curious about global health or humanitarian medicine

  • Want to volunteer or respond to disasters—but don’t know where to start

  • Travel internationally and want to practice safer, smarter medicine

  • Want CME that is practical, meaningful, and inspiring

Ready to Expand Your Skillset—and Your World?

International Wilderness Life Support is more than a course. It’s an invitation to practice medicine with confidence, humility, and purpose—whether you’re on a trail, overseas, or stepping into the unknown.

Enroll, Learn, and Apply!

Join us. Get prepared. And take your medicine beyond borders.