Helicopter evacuation of injured from Everest Base Camp after Nepal earthquake triggered avlanche (Photo: CNN) Some of the most dangerous missions by crews of helicopter rescue services take place on snow, ice and rock faces on mountains under difficult and complex conditions. Responders face a multitude of...
Medical Commission members in Greece The UIAA Medical Commission had its annual meeting on the island of Kalymnos, which included the opportunity for attendees to climb its immaculate limestone crags. Commission President Dr. David Hillebrandt reported that two-day meeting included one-day discussion Medical Commission business and the...
"The Diploma of Mountain Medicine has come a long way," says UIAA Medcom President Dr. David Hillebrandt Twenty years ago, the UIAA, International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) and International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) agreed on a common syllabus combining mountain and medical skills to...
Mt. Ader (Photo: Phil Wickens for UIAA) The UIAA Medical Commission has developed a new layperson’s advice sheet on drug use in the mountains. UIAA Medical Commission president David Hillebrandt said the advice sheet is the result of five years of discussion and consensus building between experts on...
If you are planning the trip of a lifetime in the the mountains which involves high altitude travel it’s best to be prepared and that means being ready medical emergencies. That’s where the Travel at High Altitude booklet put out by Medex is a useful and helpful primer....
The UIAA Medical Commission has published practical advice targeted at operators of mountain huts to prevent Legionella infections. The expert panel of doctors specialising in mountain medicine decided to investigate the subject following the death of a Spanish climber in Italy in 2009 due to a...
The widely respected qualification, Diploma in Mountain Medicine, was the focus of a joint meeting on August 8 of the UIAA Medical Commission, the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) and the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). Dr David Hillebrandt, Vice President, UIAA Medical Commission, wrote...
What is the risk of blood-borne infections being transmitted to climbers? The UIAA Medical Commission attempts to answer this vital question in its latest advice paper. “Sustaining cuts, abrasions or lacerations, typically on the fingertips in contact with holds, is a common occurrence in climbing,” say...
The UIAA Medical Commission has published a new paper that offers health and safety advice on hypoxia. More and more people – no longer just climbers at high altitude - can be affected by hypoxia, a condition in which the body is deprived of an adequate...
The UIAA Medical Commission will tackle an array of topics at its meeting in Nepal from November 15 to 17. The talks will range from a review of deaths on Everest climbs to a discussion of care for altitude sickness. The commission, a panel of doctors from...