Wilderness First Aid Australia reviews

1523898221

Jordan W

google

WMO students have a pass rate in excess of 90%. Those who chose to not study and fail testing are allowed to do remedial work for a 25$ fee if they have done the class work but not learned enough to be a Wilderness Care giver of high standard.

1525657101

1

The instructors all had good real world experience, but Carl's teaching abilities are a glaring deficit in this course. Moreover, his behavior was incredibly unprofessional and, on several occasions (two of which are outlined below), he made it clear to me as a student that he tries to teach in areas outside his expertise and aggressively argues against his students, despite those students frequently having professional experience, certifications, and even licenses in the field which he is trying to expand the course into. How can one trust anything he's taught if he stands 100% behind something that is demonstrably false? 1) He routinely berates and belittles the students in his course, and on more than one occasion, more than one student excused themselves from class in tears following one of his frequently personal diatribes. 2) He routinely calls his students "stupid" or "idiots" (I counted at least 4 times that he did this in a single one of his "briefings" on the day of our final test) 3) He argued with myself (an avy 2 certified back country skier) and a professional ski guide about avalanche safety protocols, emphatically teaching the class statistics that are entirely contrary to the literature and modern best practices. One statistic which I recall him vehemently arguing for is that "90% of full burial avalanche victims survive at least 30 minutes under the snow". In reality, the historical accepted survival phase is only 10 minutes on average, with average 30 minute survival rates of 25%, 22%, and 0% for continental, transitional, and maritime snowpacks, respectively. 4) He had a heated argument with a professionally certified counselor in my course about common best practices in the counselor's own field (one which in which Carl is not certified to instruct), making negative statements about the student's competency and asserting his own correctness without providing any evidence aside from his own word. The first two points are unprofessional, but the latter two are downright concerning. Taking these points into consideration along with the fact that Carl provides himself a monetary incentive to fail as many of his students as possible by charging students between $25 and $100+ (payable directly to Carl himself) to read "remedial essays", I was pretty shocked by business' practices. I've kept in touch with most of my class and only know of one student who DIDN'T have to write one of Carl's remedial essays. As he made a comment about our class being above the average, it seems that he makes quite a nice little profit extorting this last little bit of money from his students.

1525642715

Felicity Simcock

google

WMO has no record of this name paying for or even registering for a Wilderness Class. Google does not require the reviewer as some systems do to have taken the class reviewed. Should you the reader wonder about what is said here call WMO for the truth not fiction.

1525647678

1

DO NOT take a course with this outfitter!!! It is not worth your time or money and you'll receive incorrect medical information! Furthermore, the instructor and owner of the company, Carl, is both incompetent and inappropriate, and the business appears to be a scam. I have previously taken 3 WFR courses and all had a standard textbook and fairly standard tests. In the previous courses I've taken, we performed wilderness medicine scenarios outside in a wilderness setting. In this course, however, the instructor Carl wrote his own textbook, which is filled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and WRONG medical information! (Example: give Zantac for allergies - this is a heartburn medication. Another example: don't give CPR when a patient is unresponsive with no pulse and respirations.) Some of the wrong information is benign, while other things he has written and tells the class (e.g. give an unconscious patient in the woods medicine rectally) is unprofessional, unnecessary, and could result in lawsuits and/or death. We also did not perform any actual outdoor scenarios in this course. We did some "scenarios" inside for all of a few minutes, where he mostly just showed us things and then allowed a few of us to try it. If I hadn't taken WFR courses before, my knowledge would be nowhere near enough to do anything at all in a wilderness medical situation. Most of the course is just him telling anectodal stories that have nothing to do with anything. Additionally, Carl and the men who come into the course with him to "help" teach are unprofessional. They voice their opinions about sex, race, age, ability, etc. and make inappropriate comments to females in the class. Lastly, parts of the business appear to be a scam. For example, he writes in his own textbook that we need to write lists after every class, but never actually tells us that we need to do this, nor directs us to this page where it assigns us this work. When he discovers no one has written these lists after a few weeks, he then makes us pay him money. He also fails almost everyone on the final exam and we have to pay him an arbitrary sum of money to write an essay to pass if we fail the course (which was 90% of the class when I took it). He also makes students fill out a course review BEFORE the final exam, and doesn't let you take the final exam unless you give it to him first! People who write bad reviews unsurprisingly end up failing the course... Very unprofessional and unethical. If you are going to take a WFR or W-EMT course, go with a reputable outfitter like NOLS!!! In fact, I contacted NOLS after taking this course and asked them who governs their ability to certify WFRs to people (as Carl's company should not be certifying people in my opinion and I wanted to contact this agency to say so). Their response was, "While there is no 'governing body' for the wilderness medicine industry there is a group of wilderness medicine organizations that monitor and evolve the wilderness medicine curriculum. Wilderness Medicine Outfitters was formerly part of that group, but was asked to separate." That should say enough in itself...

1441165925

John Robusto

google

5

I attended the WMO Wilderness ALS course in 2015. The course was taught at a Colorado fire training academy. Classroom was clean and modern. The course was taught by physicians (including an exceptional ER Physician) and experts in their field, including Dentists, and Optometrists, RNs and Paramedics who presented case studies in wilderness rescue complete with outcomes. Carl, the lead instructor, is a MasterFellow, AWM. The Anatomy laboratory was a highlight. It was taught by a highly qualified Anatomist. The models in the lab were exceptionally prepared, and respectfully presented to provide maximum learning. The lead ER Physician instructor provided a well rounded and a refreshing depth of academic and practical teaching during each phase of the class. It was a unique touch that extended practical learning with sound science. The physicians took the time to help us one on one, and provided practical advice on patient assessment. Practical exercises reenforced lecture, included suturing, altitude medicine, Intubation, catheter placement, IV fluid therapy, medications and supplies for remote medicine. The students in the class also added to the learning experience. They included Army Medics, and Paramedics each contributed to learning and practical skills. What would I change? I would polish it up a little, using standard training formats from the military or other training curricula format. Use a text book over binders. (Package any extra supplies or kits and provide them as part of the course). John Robusto MS, NRP

1525277169

Joe Barfield

google

5

Enjoyable time learning how to tend to medical issues when definitive medical care isnt available. Carl cares.

1633289652

Aleya Littleton

google

1

Avoid, avoid, avoid! There arent as many negative reviews here as there should be, because Carl uses public humiliation and coercion as a tactic to silence critical feedback. I personally know several people who were forced to sign NDAs before getting a partial refund. He singles out female students, gives outdated information, argues (just look at the responses to reviews), and shames. He told someone in my class that he was bothering everyone in class and that wed complained - we did no such thing. He denied me my CPR/1st aid cert because I gave him low scores on the instructor evaluation. I just called the American Red Cross and they sent me my card directly. Ive since taken WFR with two other groups and found the experience to be professional, instructive and confidence inspiring. Why risk working with WMO when there are other places to get training?