The ASHI Wilderness First Aid training program is intended for individuals who are not healthcare providers or professional rescuers but desire or are required to be certified in wilderness first aid knowledge and skills. Certification in Adult CPR and AED is required as a prerequisite for this program. Training in basic first aid is recommended. 

Wilderness environments create special situations not usually encountered in an urban or suburban environment. When a person becomes injured or ill in the wilderness, the time and distance to traditional emergency medical services may be hours or even days. First aid providers in a wilderness setting will be faced with limited resources, have to care for a patient for a much longer time period, and need to make decisions about when and how fast to evacuate an ill or injured person. 

The goal of this training program is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to respond to a medical emergency in a remote or wilderness setting. Founded in basic principles of instructional design and learning theory, ASHI promotes a “toolbox” approach to learning. This approach gives Instructors flexibility in both presentation strategies and materials in order to reach students with widely varying abilities in the countless instructional settings that exist in the real world. Wilderness First Aid is designed to include a significant amount of hands-on skill practice.