Altitude illness is uncommon in most EMS systems, but when it occurs—often during travel, training, or outdoor recreation—it can be subtle, rapidly progressive, and easy to miss until patients deteriorate. This session focuses on the prehospital recognition and management of altitude-related illness, including acute mountain sickness, high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), and high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), with emphasis on early identification and decisive intervention.

The content is informed by real-world experience as a wilderness medicine instructor and through formal wilderness medicine training, including participation in high-altitude and cold-environment activities such as cross-country skiing, rappelling, snowshoeing, and prolonged field operations. These environments highlight how exertion, weather, terrain, and delayed access to care complicate assessment and decision-making. Using case-based discussion, attendees will learn to recognize early warning signs, differentiate altitude illness from more common medical complaints, and initiate appropriate field management when descent, oxygen, or evacuation may be the only definitive treatments. The session emphasizes practical decision-making in remote or delayed-access settings and equips EMS clinicians with tools to act confidently when thin air becomes a medical emergency.

NYS CME: All Levels - Core - Respiratory