Special Environment - Advanced Alpine
Module title | Special Environment - Advanced Alpine |
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Module code | HPDM078 |
Academic year | 2025/6 |
Credits | 15 |
Module staff | Dr Rob Daniels (Convenor) Dr Emma Cockcroft (Convenor) |
Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Duration: Weeks | 6 |
Number students taking module (anticipated) | 20 |
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Module description
This module builds on mountain environment specific skills and knowledge acquired in the foundation expedition medicine module in year 1 alongside learning prior mountaineering / off piste skiing experience. The learning moves to a high fidelity environment in Iceland or Europe. The course integrates both medical and expedition content to replicate the challenge of a real expedition, with realistic simulation and a true ‘adventure’ feel to the course.
*PLEASE NOTE* Students selecting this module will need to have prior experience and competence in alpine winter environments, including but not limited to basic mountaineering skills and be comfortable and confident in challenging off-piste skiing conditions. You will be asked to provide a brief written resume of your experience to the World Extreme Medicine course admin staff to confirm that the ‘advanced’ rather than ‘standard’ alpine skills is suitable for you.
If you are taking this module, you cannot take HPDM077 Special Environment – Winter Alpine, and vice versa.
Module aims - intentions of the module
In this module, you will develop the skills and knowledge required for use in technical winter mountain environments. Students will develop their understanding of the risks, hazards, technical skills and medical knowledge needed to function safely as a medical provider in high-risk alpine environments. You will focus on the evaluation of health issues to be expected in the field, planning and preparation for activities in the mountains and technical rescue. You will reflect in more depth on the ethical, professional and legal challenges of delivering medical care in high altitude and mountain environments.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an understanding of safe glacier travel, ice climbing and crevasse rescue techniques.
- 2. Demonstrate knowledge of alpine search and rescue techniques, then synthesis safe rescue and evacuation plans. This will involve critical appraisal of current techniques, limitations and risk assessment.
- 3. Demonstrate a critical approach to current practice in relevant topics in mountain medicine, and an understanding of the limitations in current evidence.
- 4. Evaluate and reflect on medical search and rescue team formation, and critically appraise the success or failures of these teams during the practical challenges during this module.
- 5. Demonstrate knowledge of avalanche rescue, casualty assessment and treatment of the avalanche rescue victim.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Understand the principles of camp set up and management and public health.
- 7. ,Demonstrate a knowledge and application of crew resource management in medical teams.
- 8. Critically review the difference between environment specific skills and generic skills, and reflect on the significance of this when analysing personal development and learning
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 9. Demonstrate a mature knowledge base and skill level to enable safe inclusion as an active team member in expedition groups.
- 10. Demonstrate a mature clinical and logistical decision making approach to expedition work.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module's precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows: Navigation Planning, packing, camp craft and cooking Team organisation and leadership Rope skills Glacier travel techniques Ice axe self-arrest Crevasse rescue Ice climbing techniques Search and rescue theory and practice Evacuation planning Physiological changes in humans that occur on ascent to altitude Physiological adaptations to high altitude Off-piste route choice and evaluations Safe ascent profiles Avalanche rescue Assessment and treatment of avalanche victims Acute Mountain Sickness: evidence for risks, prevention, prophylaxis High Altitude Cerebral Oedema: evidence for risks, prevention, prophylaxis High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema: evidence for risks, prevention, prophylaxis Cold Injury Pre-hospital trauma care and evacuation Air evacuation
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Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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60 | 90 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
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Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 60 | Residential course in an area with snow and glaciers- lectures, seminars, master-classes, practical exercises. Practical exercises are scenario based and of evolving complexity and duration, using the reality of the environment to add fidelity. |
Guided independent study | 90 | Reading and preparation for scheduled sessions and coursework. |
Formative assessment
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
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Facilitated debriefs | 20 minutes per scenario, estimated 120 minutes over the residential course element. | 1-2,4-6,8-9 | Rolling group debriefs during and after practical challenges, with formal feedback from faculty and students. |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
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100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
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Masters level written assignment | 100 | Equivalent to 2000 words of written assignment | 1-9 | Written |
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Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
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Written assignment | 2000 words | 1-9 | Typically within six weeks of receiving original feedback |
Re-assessment notes
Resubmission of the original assignment
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
1. Doctor on Everest: Emergency Medicine at the Top of the World - a Personal Account of the 1996 Disaster - Kenneth Kamler
2. Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine. 2nd Edition Chris Johnson, Sarah R Anderson, Jon Dallimore, Chris Imray, Shane Winser, James Moore and David A Warrell - Oxford University Press, May 2015. ISBN: 9780199688418. £34.99
3. Wilderness Medical Society consensus guidelines for the prevention and treatment of acute altitude illness.
4. Luks AM1, McIntosh SE, Grissom CK, Auerbach PS, Rodway GW, Schoene RB, Zafren K, Hackett PH; Wilderness Medical Society.
5. Wilderness Environ Med. 2010 Jun; 21(2):146-55. doi; 10.1016/j.wem.2010.03.002. Epub 2010 Mar 10.
6. The High Altitude Medicine Handbook, 3rd edition, by Andrew J. Pollard and David R. Murdoch
7. Acute altitude illnesses BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4943
8. Allen & Mike's Avalanche Book: A Guide To Staying Safe In Avalanche Terrain, First Edition (Allen & Mike's Series) Paperback – 4 Dec. 2012, ISBN: 978-0762779994
9. Glacier Mountaineering: An Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue (How to Climb Series): An Illustrated Guide To Glacier Travel And Crevasse Rescue, Revised edition Paperback – Illustrated, 29 May 2009, ISBN: 978-0762748624
ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
Web based and electronic resources:
Other resources:
Credit value | 15 | |
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Module ECTS | 7.5 | |
Module pre-requisites |
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NQF level (module) | 7 | |
Available as distance learning? | No | |
Last revision date | 29/07/2024 |