Teams from Warwick Medical School have held off competition from 20 other medical school teams to come first and second in a national pre-hospital wilderness medicine competition, Wild Trials 2019.

Wild Trials is a national wilderness medicine competition run every year in which teams from UK medical school compete against each other on a number of pre-hospital, emergency and trauma based medical scenarios in the wilderness. Participants are assessed on their ability to safely and appropriately manage the medical problems encountered in each scenario, as well as their communication skills, logistical planning, problem solving, team working and their ability to manage evolving situations.

In this year's competition, the medical scenarios ranged from a base-jumper with a c-spine injury and open radius fracture to a mass-casualty scenario following an explosion at a music festival with multiple patients needing urgent medical attention, where effective triage was required.

Teams also took part in an orienteering competition, which involved navigating around a predetermined course via a number of checkpoints and collecting points for correct answers to medical questions and various team working challenges.

Participants this year faced a further challenge as the competition took place during a snowy weekend and the teams had to camp in negative temperatures for two nights.

Following a very exciting and challenging competition the two Warwick teams were placed first and second overall out of a total of 22 teams. This is a fantastic achievement for the university and is a testament to Warwick Wilderness Medicine Society for the high level of training that they provide for pre-hospital, emergency and wilderness medicine scenarios. The success was made possible thanks to financial support from WMS and equipment donated by the clinical skills staff at UHCW (University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire).

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Warwick Wilderness Medicine

Warwick Wilderness Medicine is one of Warwick Medical School's largest and most active societies with around 500 members. Run by students, the society's members have the opportunity to go climbing every week at Warwick’s indoor climbing centre, enjoy day trips hiking in the surrounding countryside, and benefit from student-led pre-hospital medicine training and at least three trips each year.

This year the society is also organising its own Warwick Wild Trials competition on 23 February. This is an exciting opportunity for everyone who has an interest in pre-hospital or wilderness medicine to have a go at the type of scenarios that are run at the national Wild Trials and receive tailored feedback.

To get involved please visit the Facebook page or email wilderness.medics@warwick.ac.uk.