Department Blog

Posted 8/11/2016 by Linda Kesselring

Are Hikers Ready for Emergencies?

Two students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine spent several weeks in Rocky Mountain National Park last summer, talking with backcountry hikers about their ability to avoid emergencies and their preparedness in case one occurs. Using a written survey, Michael Yue, BA, MS-2, and David Spivey, BA, MS-3, collected information from 379 hikers. Michael presented the results as a poster, “Rocky Mountain National Park Hiker Preparedness Survey: Does Wilderness Medicine Training Correlate with Preparedness for Injury and Altitude Illness?,” at the 7th World Congress of Mountain & Wilderness Medicine, held in Telluride, Colorado, last week. Their faculty advisors and collaborators were Daniel Gingold, MD, MPH, and Douglas Sward, MD