Mountain medicine

Together with our partners, the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) and the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR), the UIAA  Medical Commission has established and developed a joint Diploma in Mountain Medicine.

The courses are divided up into three sections: basic course, course for trekking / expeditions and a specialty course for Mountain Emergency Medicine. The specialty course is designed for the training of emergency physicians and paramedics working in mountain rescue organisations. If your organisation or institution organise a mountain medicine course, and follow our minimum curricula, you can apply to our Approval Board the right to use the ISMM/UIAA/ICAR logos and award our Diploma.

More than 3500 doctors have been trained in these courses up to now. There are 13 different courses for mountain medicine established in Austria, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. So far the following institutions have been approved.

• Austrian Society for mountain and high altitude medicine together with German society for mountain and expedition medicine
• The University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Institut d'Estudis de Medicina de Muntanya, Spain
• "Gabriele d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
• University of Padua, Italy
• Nordbadischer Sportärztebund together with the UniversitätsKlinikum Heidelberg, Germany
•  Swiss Society for mountain medicine in co-operation with the Swiss Alpine Club
• Diplôme Interuniversitaire de Médecine et Urgence en Montagne, Universities of Bobigny and Toulouse, France
• Medex and the University of Leicester

If you are a doctor who would like to take part in a mountain medicine course approved by the UIAA, please contact one of these institutions for details. Here is a list of the diploma holders in the UK (Medex website).

Participants at the UIAA Mountain medicine Diploma course in Plas y Brenin, spring 2007.