Study

What the OEC technician role is, where it fits in prehospital care, and the duties that come with it.

How EMS is organized, provider levels, medical direction, and how patrols hand patients into the system.

Scene safety, personal protective equipment, and the priorities that keep rescuers from becoming patients.

Organizing multi-patient and multi-agency incidents, and sorting patients when needs exceed resources.

Body mechanics, emergency and non-emergency moves, and getting patients off the hill safely.

The body systems and directional language every assessment and radio report is built on.

The systematic sequence — scene size-up through ongoing assessment — that catches life threats first.

Radio discipline, clean handoff reports, and records that protect patients and patrollers.

Opening, clearing, and maintaining the airway — the most immediately life-saving skill set in OEC.

Recognizing failing perfusion early — when treatment still works — and slowing its progression.

Working through the many causes of a patient who isn't acting right — from sugar to seizures to stroke.

Toxins by ingestion, inhalation, absorption, and injection — and the ones that matter on the hill.

Recognizing inadequate breathing and supporting patients with asthma, COPD, and hyperventilation.

From local reactions to airway-threatening anaphylaxis — and the one drug that reverses it.

Chest pain, cardiac arrest, and the CPR-plus-AED sequence that saves lives on the mountain.

Acute abdomens, GI bleeding, and the complaints you treat symptomatically and transport.

Supporting imminent delivery in the field and caring compassionately for assault survivors.

Reading mechanism of injury and deciding who is a load-and-go trauma patient.

Bleeding control from direct pressure to tourniquets, wound care, and burn management.

Fractures, dislocations, sprains, and the splinting principles behind every stable package.

Concussion through cord injury: recognition, spinal motion restriction, and helmet decisions.

Protecting the airway and vision when trauma strikes above the shoulders.

Rib fractures to sucking chest wounds — injuries that compromise breathing and circulation together.

The quiet compartment: recognizing internal bleeding and handling pelvic fractures gently.

Hypothermia and frostbite — the patrol's home-turf emergencies, and the ones easiest to underestimate.

Heat cramps to heat stroke — yes, they happen on spring skiing days and summer operations.

Bites, stings, and toxic plant contact in the backcountry and summer seasons.

AMS, HAPE, and HACE — recognizing when the mountain itself is the pathogen.

Drowning, cold-water immersion, and rescues around resort ponds, creeks, and summer operations.

Kids compensate beautifully — right up until they crash. Assessment and care tuned for small patients.

Older patients break easier, hide symptoms, and carry medication lists that change everything.

Assessing and assisting athletes who ski and ride with adaptive equipment and different baselines.

De-escalation, suicide risk, and staying safe while caring for patients in psychological crisis.

Helicopter LZs, chairlift evacuation, avalanche response, and interfacing with transport crews.