The Fellowship program (Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine™ or FAWM) offers a means to identify those who have fulfilled a demanding set of requirements validating their training and experience in wilderness medicine. Society members enroll in the Academy and, by completing lessons from a pre-established Wilderness Medicine curriculum as well as receiving credit for specific identifiable experience, accumulate credit toward becoming a Fellow. Any current member of the WMS who successfully completes the requirements will have the distinction of being a registered member of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and entitled to use the designation Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) and may reference it on resumes, business cards, and advertisements.
The program is designed to provide a combination of learning and demonstration of the advanced practice of wilderness medicine through experience, teaching, scholarly activity, and leadership. A broad understanding of wilderness medicine is required therefore candidates are expected to obtain required and elective credits in each of the defined subject areas.
FAWM Brochure
How It Works
First, you must be an active Member of the WMS (permissions refresh nightly so you might have to wait a day before proceeding to the next step). Then you process the FAWM candidacy application and pay the application fee ($225). Once you're a candidate, you can begin claiming and accumulating credits. (Please note that the system preference update overnight so please wait 24 hours before accessing any FAWM-specific pages).
If you are not a WMS member, and received FAWM information at an eligible event , then you can receive credit for that event by joining the WMS and applying to the Academy within 120 days of the event. To complete the program and become a Fellow in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, a candidate must accumulate a minimum number of credits as described in the following table.
|
Required credits for candidates attending 1 WMS conference |
Required credits for candidates attending 2+ WMS conferences |
Core Credits |
50-70 |
45-70 |
Elective Credits |
5-15 |
5-15 |
Experience Credits |
20-40 |
20-40 |
Total |
100 |
95 |
Core and elective credits must come from approved, credit-scored activities. Candidates must complete a minimum of 45 to a maximum of 70 credits from the list of "core" topics (please note that each core credit category has a maximum credit allocation and core credits are allocated in the following order - WMS credits, WEM journal credits and Non-WMS credits) and earn a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 15 credits from the "elective" topics per the above table.
Additionally, each candidate must document between 20 and 40 experience credits in the Experience Report. The report breaks experience into the following categories:
1. Professional Certification, Education, and Training
2. Military Training
3. Wilderness Medicine Related Publishing and Research
4. Wilderness Medicine Related Editorial Responsibilities
5. Wilderness Medicine Related Teaching and Mentoring
6. Public Service in Wilderness-centric Medical Services and Deployments
7. Wilderness Medicine Related Awards
8. Service to WMS