Audience-led entry
Choose the credential that fits your practice.
NOLS wilderness medicine courses are built for healthcare professionals at every level. Find your role, see the recommended path, and earn the credential that fits.
For Paramedics & EMTs
Take your EMS practice into the backcountry. Add wilderness paramedic certification to your existing skill set with a 5-day field-based course.
Recommended path
WUMP · Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals
For Physicians
Earn wilderness medicine CME credits. Whether you're an EM doc, family physician, or expedition medicine fellow, NOLS WM courses count toward your continuing education.
Recommended path
WUMP or WAFA + CME credits
For Nurses & NPs
Add wilderness medicine to your nursing practice. Whether you're a school nurse, ER nurse, or NP, our courses fit your scope and credential needs.
Recommended path
WUMP · CE-eligible
For Physician Assistants
Take your PA training to the wilderness. NOLS WM courses are recognized for PA CME credit and equip you for remote, austere, and expedition settings.
Recommended path
WUMP · AAPA Category 1 CME
For Outdoor Professionals
Guides, trip leaders, search-and-rescue, camp staff. The credential that meets industry standards for working in the field with clients.
Recommended path
WFR · Wilderness First Responder
For Everyone Else
Backcountry hikers, parents of teens, weekend climbers. Build the basic skills you need to handle a wilderness emergency before it happens.
Recommended path
WFA · Wilderness First Aid
Already a WEMT? Already a paramedic? You probably want WUMP.
The Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals is a 5-day course built specifically for licensed clinicians who already know clinical medicine and need to add wilderness, austere, and expedition skills. Counts for CME / CE credits.
Approved for clinicians from
Trained outside
Field-based instruction. Real conditions.
Every NOLS wilderness medicine course is taught outdoors, in the kind of terrain you'll actually work in. The skills stick because you used them.
The certification ladder
Five credentials. One progression.
Every NOLS wilderness medicine credential builds on the last. Start where your practice is, climb at your own pace.
1
2 Days
WFA
Wilderness First Aid
The foundational credential. Recognized by the outdoor industry and required for guide work.
2
5 Days
WAFA
Advanced Wilderness First Aid
A step up from WFA. Recognized by NREMT and useful for clinical professionals seeking field skills.
3
9 Days
WFR
Wilderness First Responder
The industry standard for guides, trip leaders, and outdoor professionals working with clients in the backcountry.
4
5 Days
WUMP
Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Pros
Specifically for paramedics, RNs, NPs, PAs, and physicians. Adds wilderness skills to existing clinical practice.
5
28 Days
WEMT
Wilderness EMT
Full EMT certification plus wilderness module. The deepest credential in the NOLS WM ladder.
Continuing Medical Education
Earn CME credits in the backcountry.
NOLS wilderness medicine courses are accredited for CME and CE credit by all major medical professional associations. Earn what you need for your license, renewal, or fellowship requirements.
Approved CME categories
Up to 50 CME credits per course.
Approved for CME by AMA, AANP, AAPA, NREMT, and CECBEMS. Earn the credits you need while practicing skills you'll use in austere, remote, and expedition settings.
Why NOLS Wilderness Medicine
Trained in the field, not the classroom.
NOLS pioneered wilderness medicine education in 1973. Our courses are taught outside, in real conditions, by working clinicians and outdoor professionals.
Field-based instruction
Every NOLS WM course is taught outdoors. Real terrain, real weather, real consequences. The skills stick because you used them.
Industry-recognized
NOLS WFR is the industry standard for guides and outdoor professionals. NOLS CME credits are accepted by every major medical association.
Clinician instructors
Our instructors are working physicians, paramedics, and NPs who teach what they actually do in the backcountry. Not academics. Practitioners.
