An article from Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal examines the retention of skills for those trained in wilderness first aid and concludes:
Without additional training, regular use of the course content, or efforts to refresh thinking on key topics, the ability of WFA students to effectively apply their learning will likely decrease as time from training increases. With respect to these WFA courses, student scores on written tests did not accurately reflect competence in performing practical skills related to a medical scenario. In addition, student self-confidence in the ability to perform such skills did not strongly correlate with actual skills and ability.
Getting trained in WFA once is not enough – just like any training that you may not apply often, knowledge and skill tends to diminish over time.
It’s time for me to renew my WFA training; how about you?
See Wilderness First Aid—What Is It and Why Should You Care? for an explanation and training opportunities.
The complete article from the WEM is behind a (rather expensive) pay wall here