Inside - Rocky Vista University

Vista View
The Rural and Wilderness Medicine
track has now been officially in operation
for over a year and a half and already
RVU is making its mark in the
world of medical education. Over the
past several months RVU and students
in the R&W Medicine track have been
featured in the AMA News and The
DO magazine for having a unique solution
to the rural physician shortage.
Since the first meeting at the beginning
of 2010, the program has grown
steadily and has continually been refined.
We now have weekly inquiries
from Physicians in the community and
elsewhere wanting to help teach the
students and participate in the field
trips. We have refined our curriculum
to focus on clinical topics that will be of
most value to those who will practice
in austere settings.
In April and May, RVU participated in two field trips to
Northwest Colorado and Southwestern Wyoming. The
Colorado trip was for second year students who had
completed most of
the didactics of the
program over the
past three semesters
and would train in a
wilderness ranching
environment. The experience
in Wyoming
would cover both rural
EMS and public
health themes.
4
From the Office of Clinical Affairs: Updates on the Rural & Wilderness Track
By Thomas Told, D.O., Chair, Rural & Wilderness Medicine
Julie Moseley Watters, OMS-III administers a
vaccination to a horse
Students in the ranch-
ing/wilderness phase learned how to catch and care for
horses. They learned the proper technique for saddling
and riding their mounts in various types of mountain terrain.
Instruction was also given on some common hazards
horse and rider can encounter if they are not vigilant.
Horsemanship also extended to packing the animals.
Students learned the proper way to prepare a horse to
pack medical equipment and survival gear safely. All the
students received instruction on some common diseases
in horses and participated in vaccination and worming
OMS-III students Julie Moseley Watters, Hank Allen,
Kara Jackson and Bonnie Hunt
operations on the ranch. The weather
this year at the ranch was very wet and
slippery which also presented new
challenges for the students learning
outdoor survival techniques.
The students researched various
ways to keep matches and fire starting
equipment dry and in good order.
They learned how to start fires with
wet wood and how to build signal fires.
They learned that pine needles burn
with white smoke, but it takes rubber
products to produce black smoke on
a snow background. We were able to
hire an airplane spotter who could give
us instant feedback on our signal techniques.
We found out that white material
on green grassy fields worked very
well and fresh pealed logs were as visible
as white sheets in the form of X’s.
We divided the students up into small
groups and then had them use their newly learned techniques
to have the airplane locate them. In the end, black
Smoke against a snow background, white on a green
background and signal mirrors worked the best.
We also took this opportunity to have instruction in
hunting injuries and a firearms familiarization course.
Students were able to handle and shoot firearms of all
calibers in a safe and controlled
environment.
In the field we were able
to practice first aid and
transport techniques using
only those resources that
were available in the outdoors.
We had previously
learned how to purify water
and construct a solar
still. Though the weather
was some of the wettest on
record, it did not dampen
our desire to learn and
perfect our skills, but presented
a new set of challenges
for us to solve.
Kenton Asche, OMS-III with his Preceptor Dr.
Troy Phillips, on rural rotation at the Memorial
Hospital in Craig
(Continued on Next Page)