For this blog entry, I want to share two issues I encountered while traveling in Nepal, just shy of my graduation from medical school: acute mountain sickness (AMS) and responding to a wilderness medicine incident as a medical trainee.
There is nothing more glorious
There is nothing more glorious than the period just after finishing medical school and before residency! For me, the highlight was being able to hike in Nepal. With the long travel time from Canada, and the multi-day itineraries most hikes necessitate, the post-grad period seemed like the ideal opportunity to make my dream of visiting the Himalayas come true.
I wrote my medical licensing exam, hopped on a flight and got ready to soak up the change of pace. While traveling, I found time to relax, (tried my best to) practice mindfulness and experienced the incredible kindness of Nepali people. Traveling was the perfect recharge that now has me geared up and excited for residency.
Annapurna Circuit
A few weeks before leaving for my travels, I began researching the Annapurna Circuit (APC). Having grown up at a staggering 240m above sea level in the Canadian prairies, I felt threatened by the Thorong La pass, which at 5416m is the highest part of the trek. My highest previous experience at altitude was 4200 meters, where I (unfortunately) developed Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). My history of having AMS and following a typical itinerary for the APC put me at moderate risk for AMS(1). I decided to heed the Wilderness Medicine Society’s recommendation to take acetazolamide 125mg every 12 hours as prophylaxis(1).
While on the trek, I overheard many myths about AMS and sensed a general reluctance to take acetazolamide as prophylaxis(2). Himalayan Rescue Association does free daily teaching about AMS on the APC in Manang and on the Everest Base Camp trek as well(3). As we moved to higher altitudes, many guest houses and Annapurna Conservation Area Project outposts had accurate information about AMS and its consequences (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema and High Altitude Cerebral Edema). Surprisingly, despite this teaching and the availability of acetazolamide on the trail for purchase, there are still hikers that routinely require evacuation due to AMS, some by helicopter.
On the day before crossing the Thorong La Pass, I stopped for lunch with some trekking mates at Thorong Phedi (4538m). A few minutes passed before someone came into the guesthouse, visibly worried, requesting help from a doctor. It took me a few seconds (and my friends practically lifting me off my seat) to register that I could help! I was thankful to be hiking with an experienced nurse and we went to see the hiker together.
We were asked to see a fit hiker in his 60’s whose foot had been the victim of a rockslide. I clarified my training as a fourth-year medical student before asking details about the mechanism of injury and his past medical history. The hiker and his family were concerned and asked me to “rule out” a fracture. With positive Ottawa Ankle Rules findings, I wished for an X-Ray machine to rule out a clinically significant fracture(4). Keeping in mind there was no road access – the nearest road before the camp was in Manang (3500m, 15km away) or in Muktinath (3800m, 16km away) after the pass – the only ways out were by donkey or helicopter.
From a wilderness medicine standpoint, the injury was by all measures considered stable and the patient did not require an evacuation [reproduced from Isaac & Johnson 2013](5):
After a discussion with the patient, we decided that treating the injury as “stable” was reasonable and accepted the risk of delaying healing of a potential fracture. I recommended 24 hours of rest, ice (which kept the patient’s family busy fetching snow!), and elevation. I gave them ibuprofen to be administered on a regular schedule and instructed them to monitor CSM and plan an evacuation if there were any signs of impairment. I told the patient to continue the hike the following day if the pain did not increase with activity and to obtain medical follow up once they had returned to the city.
In hindsight, I recognized that I should have documented the encounter. I had written down the dosing of ibuprofen for the family, but I did not write a detailed SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment and plan) note. Properly documenting wilderness medicine encounters was a skill I learned in Advanced Wilderness Life Support. When we met the patient, he was generally well other than his foot injury. What if the patient’s condition worsened? What if the family forgot the plan in the stress of the situation?
I also found myself wondering about this patient long after I had left them. Reflecting upon this, I recognized that it is easier to “discharge” someone from an urban Canadian ED, where I have had most of my clinical experience because I know they can access good care if things change. The huge potential on the trail for loss to follow up made documentation much more vital in this case.
Later on, I pondered about the potential legal ramifications of helping this hiker. In Ontario, Good Samaritan laws protect health care professionals who provide first aid(6). From my understanding, there are no similar laws in Nepal, and there have been calls to define the rights and duties of those who witness or are requested to aid with an injury in the country(7).
In Nepal, I had a much-needed change of pace from medical school and plenty of time for reflection. I was inspired to see many organizations work together to educate guides, locals and hikers about AMS and hope to spend some time volunteering at the Himalayan Rescue Association in the future. Even after wilderness medicine training, being asked to provide first aid on the trail as a soon to be medical graduate caught me by surprise. I was happy to help and be able to have an approach to the patient in a low resource setting – and now recognize the importance of documentation.
I would like to hear your comments on this article: any experiences dealing with AMS, tips and tricks for musculoskeletal injuries in the wilderness setting, advice for navigating giving medical treatment outside of a hospital as a trainee or anything you would have done differently.
References
- Luks, A. M., Auerbach, P. S., Freer, L., Grissom, C. K., Keyes, L. E., McIntosh, S. E., … Hackett, P. H. (2019). Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Altitude Illness: 2019 Update. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wem.2019.04.006
- Kilner, T., & Mukerji, S. (2010). Acute mountain sickness prophylaxis: Knowledge, attitudes, & behaviours in the Everest region of Nepal. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 8(6), 395–400. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2010.09.004
- Himalayan Rescue Association. (2019). [online] Available at https://himalayanrescue.org.np/ [Accessed 30 Jun. 2019].
- Stiell IG, Greenberg GH, McKnight RD, Nair RC, McDowell I, Worthington JR. A study to develop clinical decision rules for the use of radiography in acute ankle injuries. Ann Emerg Med. 1992; 21:384–90.
- Isaac, J. E., & Johnson, D. E. (2013). Chapter 13: Musculoskeletal Injury. In Wilderness and Rescue Medicine (pp. 84–85). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
- Good Samaritan Act, Government of Ontario (2001). Retrieved from the Ontario e-Laws website: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/01g02
- Pandey, S. (2014). Good Samaritans. [online] The Kathmandu Post. Available at: https://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2014-07-13/good-samaritans.html [Accessed 30 Jun. 2019].
