When planning your course, it is important to make sure that you are adhering to Base Medical’s minimum requirements. These requirements include:

• Minimum time requirements for in-person practical. The below are in addition to the online material:

  • WFA: 8 Hours

  • WFR Recert: 16 Hours

  • WFR Certification: 40 Hours

• Active to passive ratio of 3:1 or more

• Student to instructor ratio of 10:1 or less

• All required topics are included in schedule

• Instructors have active minimum certifications including Base Medical instructor or instructor candidate status (assist only), plus:

  • WFR or higher for instructors teaching WFA

  • EMT or higher for instructors teaching WFR

  • Red Cross instructor status for any ARC course add ons

As a reminder, you may be offering a course in one of three ways: independently, with an established education center, or on behalf of Base Medical. This section covers suggestions and best practices for offering a course independently.

If you're teaching with an established education center, they may have their own process for registering courses and managing enrollments. Alternatively, if you're contracted to teach a Base Medical course, sign ups will be managed on the Base Medical website directly.

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Base Medical makes it easy for you to offer courses. All you have to do is submit a Course Request form to our Course Administration team. This form is found in the Instructor Resource Area.

You will need to submit the following information when filling out the Course Request form:

• Course Certification Level (WFA, WFR, etc)

• Start and End Dates of Course

• Instructor Information

• Add-ons such as CPR or Wilderness CPR

• Venue Information

• If the course is open for public enrollment. If so, the price of the course will be needed, as well as a link to share

Advertising A Course

If you are offering courses independently for the general public, we suggest building a simple website to share information and future dates. It's usually best to have a specific page for each course you offer, which can explain specific details, venue information, timing, etc and to allow for sign ups.

Base Medical can help with this by offering you a page on our site or helping you set up a simple website. 

Payment Confirmation and Course Enrollment

When offering a course as an independent instructor, you will be responsible for accepting payments. Student payment is made directly by the student to the instructor. Instructors are responsible for ensuring they are processing payment and reporting income appropriately.

You will most likely want to set up a payment processing tool such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, Melio, etc.

Most payment platforms allow you to edit or customize the payment confirmation message. Be sure to update this message for each new course. Alternatively, you can email students the course sign up individually after they have paid. If you are do this, we recommend making the student aware that there will be a delay between paying for the course and enrolling in the course.  

Once you receive payment, you can then share the custom course link (see: course registration) with the student to enroll in the course and access online lessons. We recommend placing the custom course sign up link in the confirmation message or email that the student will receive after successfully paying for the course.  

It is also helpful to remind student how the course will proceed, the details of the practical training, and what is required for the student.

The Instructor Resource Area has more guidance in this area. The Training Director is also here to help!

Managing Student Sign Up and Progress

It's best to create a sign up form or some way of capturing students who sign up for your course. Google forms, survey monkey, and countless other services exist that can help.

In your form, we suggest that you capture:

• Student Name

• Email Address

• Phone Number (for any urgent day-of communication)

• Payment information

• Any add-ons (for example, CPR)

• An acknowledgement or virtual signature on any policies such as cancellation, photo policy, liability waiver, etc

• Any other information that will help with your planning

Once students have received and enrolled on the Base Medical platform (via the custom course link you'll share), you will be able to track their progress via Thinkific. This will be covered in detail during the Mock Course Set Up.

The final price you charge for your course will depend on many factors. Ultimately, it is up to you to ensure that you've built in the cost of any expenses you may incur. The below is a suggested framework for calculating a price but any final decisions lie in the instructor or education center.

Expenses

When estimating your course cost, you should be sure to account for the below possible expenses you will incur:

• Base Medical curriculum fees: See "Program Costs" in the Base Medical Essentials chapter.

• Red Cross fees: If you're offering a CPR/AED certification with American Red Cross, be sure you've factored in the $35/student fee.

• Course materials: Including both one-time use items (such as steri-strips, roller gauze, etc) and reusable items (aluminum splints, triangle bandages, etc).

• Venue Fees: Such as location rental, permits, and access fees.

• Instructor Pay: This may include instructors who you enlist to maintain the proper ratio or certification level. Please note that you will be responsible for ensuring that pay is processed reported accurately. You can inquire with Base Medical for support or pay processing in some cases (email lauren@base-medical.com).

• Instructor Travel: This can vary considerably. Be sure you've factored in all possible costs including airfare, mileage, rental car, lodging, meal stipends, gas, checked bags, transporting equipment and gear, and incidental costs.

Pricing Strategies

It's important to consider the goal of your course from a pricing perspective. Are you trying to keep costs low for a community course? Are you raising funds for your organization? How much are you hoping to take home for your own compensation? Will you have a minimum number of students or try and guarantee the course will run?

If your goal is to run a guaranteed course without a minimum enrollment, you may have to list a slightly higher cost to cover expenses with fewer students.

Alternatively, if you are confident you'll have a large class and want to make it accessible, you may list it at a lower cost and let students know its running is contingent on reaching a minimum enrollment number.

You can always schedule a call with the training director for guidance.

Pricing Calculator

A pricing calculator tool is available here to help establish per person charges for independent courses. Please note that this is an optional tool. 

Be sure to make a copy of this sheet if you'd like to use it. Input cells are highlighted in green - entering information in these  cells will show you different outcomes.

‍ ‍Pricing Calculator Tool
‍ ‍Note, you will be taken to a Google sheet. Request access, which may take up to 48 hours.

For more support in course pricing, email the training director.

In the Instructor Resource Area, Base Medical provides a few template schedules that you may use to teach your courses. Feel free to use these templates as a starting base for you to work off of and build a course schedule that meets your unique needs. 

Instructors are not currently required to use the provided templates, but they must havea written schedule of some type. Schedules may be requested by the training director before or after a course as part of an audit.

Mandatory Topics and Minimum Time

When building a course schedule, you must include the mandatory training topics as defined by the SoE and meet the minimum time. However, you may include other topics at your discretion. Instructors can also opt to extend their practical training hours or to break up the hours over a longer period of time. 

For example, many SAR instructors extend their WFA course to 16 hours (two days) to include time for additional topics like patient packaging and large-scale scenarios. Alternatively, some education centers extend their WFR offerings over multiple weekends to provide more flexible access.

• WFA:

  • 8 Hours Online

  • 8 Hour (min) live, in-person or remote

• WFR (initial)

  • 24 Hours Online

  • 40 Hour (min) live in-person

• WFR Recert

  • 24 Hours Online

  • 16 Hour (min) live, in-person or remote

The Active to Passive Ratio

The Active to Passive Ratio (A:P Ratio) is a measure of the amount of active learning compared to the amount of passive learning experienced by students during a practical training. The A:P Ratio for all practical trainings, no matter the type, is 3:1 

This means that your practical training must be more active than it is passive. 

This is how Base Medical ensures that instructors are not simply standing in front of a group of students and lecturing away while everyone takes a nap. Your schedule and lesson plans must be designed in a way that engages students both mentally and physically as much as possible.

You will need a basic set of equipment and gear to adequately teach your wilderness medicine courses.

Some items may be used for multiple courses such as:

• Sleeping bags

• Tarps

• Sleeping pads

• Rescue blankets / mylar blankets

• Elastic bandages

• SAM Splints

• Training tourniquets

• Trauma sheers

• Triangle bandages

• Moulage kit

• Diagnostics (pulse oximeters, BP cuffs, stethoscopes, etc)

• Epi trainers

• Irrigation syringes

Other items may be one-time use and will need to be topped off regularly, such as:

• Gloves

• Gauze pads

• Roller gauze

• Steri-strips

• Tegaderm

• Coban

• Hand outs

The above list is non exhaustive and the equipment you will ultimately need will depend on the certification level you are teaching and the topics. 

During your mentorship course, you will have a chance to see how your instructor trainer manages their gear. If you are teaching for an organization, they will most likely order the needed equipment.Item description

The final exam is an online exam that students take after successfully completing the practical training with you. Determining if a student has met the requirements to receive access to the final exam is ultimately up to the instructor.

Only share the final exam link with students who have successfully completed the practical and displayed competency in all knowledge and skills Objectives.

Once students have completed and passed their online exam, they will be given their certification of completion for the full course.

Practical Evaluations

For both WFA and WFR levels, students must demonstrate that they can identify life threats, fix those life threats, and perform a thorough scene size-up and primary assessment. WFR students must also display full competency in secondary evaluation tools, management, and decision making (WFA students should be able to do this as well, but may need more guidance and coaching in these areas).

If a student can do so, and meets all necessary objectives associated with their training level, they can be given access to the final assessment. 

This evaluation may be done using final scenarios as "testing scenarios" or as a cumulative evaluation over the course of the whole day. You can even begin quietly evaluating students from the very first scenarios during the practical training. 

A formal, optional evaluation checklist will be available in the instructor resource area in 2026.

The Online Final Exam

At the moment, instructors are given a unique final assessment link each year for each certification level they are approved to teach. This link is connected to you as the instructor. At the end of the practical training, you will share this link with your students via email.

The online exam is not timed, and students can take the exam as many times as necessary. Students must pass the exam with an 80% or higher. Once students pass the exam, they will instantly receive their certification via PDF. 

The final assessment also contains a survey to capture student feedback about the practical training and you as the instructor. Students must complete this survey to receive their certificate. 

This feedback will be shared with you and will be reviewed by the Training Director.

Very rarely, there are times when a student does not meet the criteria to be granted access to the final assessment. This usually happens when a student rushes through the online lessons the night before the practical training or because the student has a psychological barrier they have created for themselves. 

As an instructor, you may want to give them a chance to repeat a scenario or stay after to keep trying with coaching. If a psychological barrier is present, try to build up the student's confidence and simplify the steps you expect them to take when assessing a patient. 

If, by the end of the planned practical or any additional time you've given, the student still does not demonstrate the capabilities to identify life threats, correct those life threats, and perform a good patient assessment then they will be temporarily denied certification.

Next Steps

As an instructor, you will need to meet with the student in private to explain why they will not be granted access to the final assessment and complete a denied certification form. 

This form is shared with the student and the Training Director via email. The Training Director will then schedule a remote scenario evaluation with the student at a later date. This gives the student a chance to review course material and practice before meeting with the Training Director. If they pass this scenario with the Training Director, then they will be given access to the Final Assessment. 

The Denied Certification form is found in the Instructor Resource Area. We recommend having a few printed in case you need them during practical training. The Denied Certification form can also be used when a student has been removed from a training due to aggressive and dangerous behavior.

If you need additional help to support you as an instructor or your students, please utilize the training director.

Base Medical Invoice

Base Medical will invoice the instructor or organization within a few days after a course is delivered. The invoice must be paid within 10 days. We charge for the use of our online course, regardless if students complete the lessons or show up to the training.

Please account for this when creating your own cancellation policies.

Reschedules and Refunds

Ultimately, it is up to the instructor to set their own rescheduling and refund policies. As mentioned above, however, Base Medical will charge for any students who has enrolled into the online material.

If a student can not attend a practical training, then you can either work with them to reschedule and attend one of your future trainings, or you can refer them to a Remote WFA course with Base Medical. Simply email Course Administration to reschedule the student for a Remote WFA. 

If you need to reschedule a training for any reason, be sure to let Course Administration know in case students contact Base Medical with questions and to prevent an incorrect invoice from being sent.