CERTIFIED WILDERNESS FIRST AID PATHWAY
Panama
Jungle Medicine, Survival & Bushcraft (CME).
OVERVIEW
Becoming a professionally certified jungle guide.
Course Delivery: English
February 27 - 6 March 2027
CME Credits: 25
This immersive field-based Continuing Medical Education (CME) program is designed for medical professionals seeking to strengthen their clinical decision-making, trauma management, and emergency care skills in remote tropical environments. Based in Panama, the course provides a unique opportunity to step outside the hospital setting and engage with real-world scenarios where access to advanced care is delayed and practitioners must rely on sound judgment, adaptability, and core clinical principles.
Combining focused classroom sessions with intensive hands-on training and field-based simulations, this program bridges the gap between theory and practice. Participants will work through structured modules covering trauma assessment, environmental emergencies, prolonged field care, evacuation planning, and resource-limited decision-making, while reinforcing core emergency medicine concepts under realistic operational conditions.
Working alongside experienced wilderness medicine instructors and field practitioners, participants will be challenged to apply their skills in dynamic, high-stress scenarios across tropical rainforest and coastal environments. Emphasis is placed on clinical reasoning, leadership in austere settings, patient stabilization over extended evacuation times, and adapting standard protocols to remote and resource-constrained contexts.
Throughout the course, participants will develop a deeper understanding of tropical environmental hazards, expedition medicine, and the realities of delivering care in remote regions. By integrating medical expertise with field experience, the program strengthens both confidence and competence in complex environments where clinical decisions carry increased weight.
Upon successful completion, participants will earn 25 CME credits, along with enhanced confidence and practical capability in delivering emergency care in remote and tropical settings. More importantly, they will leave with applied field experience that directly translates to improved patient outcomes in both expeditionary and austere medical contexts.
Highlights
Visit Biomuseo
Participants will visit the famed Biomuseo, introducing you the incredible Panamanian bio-diversity that you are about to step into
Experience the Panama Canal
You will explore the headwaters of the Panama Canal, pack-rafting in one of the most important bio-spheres in the world
Experience Culture
Spend a night in a riverside indigenous community. Learn about their unique culture and community values.
Create Memories
You’ll earn credits while meeting like-minded professionals, in an incredible location just waiting to be explored
DETAILS
This is international and expert-backed learning that prepares you for the unique tropical environment.
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Wilderness medical knowledge and principles
Tropical medicine knowledge and principles
Regional specific medical concepts
Thinking ‘outside the box’ in decision making during medical scenarios
Jungle navigation and movement
Risk assessment and decision-making in remote environments
Jungle safety, emergency response, and evacuation principles
Communication and leadership under pressure
Environmental stewardship and responsible guiding practices
Teamwork, adaptability, and problem-solving in the field
Improvised extraction techniques - and more!!
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This course is designed for
healthcare professionals,
expedition practitioners, outdoor
leaders, wilderness responders, and
individuals with an interest in
remote medicine, survival, and
austere environments.Participants should have a
reasonable level of fitness and
some prior first aid or clinical
experience, as much of the course
is physically active and delivered in
remote jungle terrain. -
Upon successful completion, participants will receive 25 credits.
CPD/CME Statement:
Provider: Endeavour Medical (UK).
Accreditation Type: Self-certified Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Method: Upon completing the field course, the provider issues a formal Certificate of Attendance confirming 25 hours of educational activity. [1, 2]
Recognition: In accordance with General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines, these 25 hours are claimed as self-certified CPD/CME credits and mapped directly to the postgraduate specialty training curriculum within the annual appraisal portfolio.
The Course Location
Explore the remarkable Avifauna on the edge of the Panama Canal in the Panama City region, where urban edge habitats, coastal wetlands, mangroves, and lowland rainforest converge to create one of the most accessible birdwatching corridors in Central America. This area supports an extraordinary diversity of resident and migratory species, offering close encounters with toucans, motmots, tanagers, herons, raptors, and countless Neotropical migrants moving along the Pacific flyway.
Meet your expert instructors
Lead Medical Instructor
With over 40 years of clinical and expedition experience, Dr. Duncan Gray has operated in some of the world's most extreme environments—including Antarctica, the Himalayas, Alaska, the Sahara, and the jungles of Asia and South America—supporting remote expeditions, endurance races, and high-risk operations as both a physician and leader. A former A&E consultant in Glasgow and veteran of the British Airborne Forces, he has also served with the Flying Doctor Service in Australia, and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in London.
Dr. Duncan Gray
Jungle Skills Instructor
Rick is a veteran explorer and expedition leader, with over two decades guiding various projects through Central America’s most challenging terrain with his company, Jungle Treks. Respected across the region, he’s played a key role in developing sustainable eco-tourism practices that protect fragile ecosystems while delivering authentic cultural experiences. His leadership has influenced both public policy and private sector initiatives, making him a driving force in Central America’s environmental and tourism landscape.
Rick Morales
Faculty Instructor Trainee
Jorge Fernandez is a Wilderness First Aid Instructor focused on practical emergency response and remote medical care in tropical environments. Jorge brings hands-on, scenario-based instruction designed to prepare students for the realities of working in remote eco-tourism and expedition settings throughout Tropical Rainforests.
Jorge Fernandez
Itinerary
Day 1Land in Panama City, where your hotel is waiting for you. Spend your evening exploring the city sights and socializing with your course mates. Tomorrow, we begin!
DAY 2Today we meet after breakfast, and take a short trip to Biomuseo, Panamas premier exhibit experience showcasing its unique biodiversity that you are about to step into. From here we travel along the Panama Canal, stopping for lunch and arriving at Avifauna where we will spend the first few days of the course.
DAY 3Using Avifauna as our outdoor classroom, your instructors will lead you through jungle skills, interpretive bio-hikes, and medical learning. All of the skills and knowledge you need for your jungle phase of the course will be covered, ensuring you are prepared, for the challenges to come.
DAY 4-6This portion of your journey takes you deep into practical jungle exploration. Along the way your instructors will lead you through tropical medical learning and scenarios, interpretive guiding showcasing the areas unique biodiversity, and who knows - there might be a surprise emergency to manage as a team! In the Afternoon of day 6, you’ll arrive in a riverside Embera village, where you can dry out, relax and discover a whole new culture!
DAY 7Today you will pack-raft down the major waterway that feeds the Panama Canal, keeping its water levels and locks functional. Along the way you’ll learn water specific medical knowledge, and improvised extraction techniques on the water. Around midday the group will arrive at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort where you will spend the night socializing poolside and in comfort!
For those wishing to leave early, transport can be arranged back to Panama City on this evening. Note: There are no pricing adjustments or refunds for those wishing to depart the course early. Transportation fees may apply, if resort transportation is not available or applies fees to transportation.
End of CourseToday we wake up late, have breakfast and depart back to Panama City where we say our farewells and leave you to continue exploring more of the sights around the City.
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Camping & Expedition Jungle Hammock
All land use fees and permits
Certified and registered Instructors.
Internal transport means from Panama City to your course location, and back upon course completion - Excludes early departure.
Transportation required while on course: Boats, canoes etc.
Lodging while on course, campsites, park fees, fees and permissions.
The service of local staff.
All meals - Mixture of camp-style meals, freeze-dried trekking meals, locally catered meals when lodging in villages.
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International air transportation to and from Panama.
Insurance of any kind (Medical, Evacuation, Repatriation)
Prophylaxis, as discussed with your travel doctor. Note: Yellow Fever vaccination is mandatory for entry into Panama.
Alcoholic beverages not provided by hosts with meals.
Additional hotel days/nights in Panama, or in the jungle.
Personal equipment according to personal needs and preferences (list of mandatory items and recommendations will be provided upon registration).
Early departure or evacuation costs from course location.
Personal snacks, food or drinks outside of provided meals.
Delivered in Partnership with Endeavour Medical
This Continuing Medical Education (CME) program is delivered in partnership with Endeavour Medical, a UK-based provider of high-quality medical education and professional development training. Combining Endeavour Medical's expertise in clinical education with Jungle Guides International's experience operating medically in remote and tropical environments, this unique program provides healthcare professionals with an immersive learning experience that bridges conventional medical practice and tropical wilderness medicine.
Together, our organizations have developed a curriculum that challenges participants to apply clinical knowledge in realistic field settings where resources may be limited, evacuation times extended, and decision-making becomes increasingly critical. The result is a practical, engaging, and internationally relevant educational experience designed to strengthen clinical confidence, leadership, and patient care in both remote and conventional healthcare environments.
For logistical ease, all registration is done through the Endeavour Medical registration portal.
Pricing:
£2,395 / USD$3,495 Per person
Note: A portion of your course fee may go towards subsidizing training costs for locals that would otherwise not be able to attend international level training and certification initiatives. Inquire for more information.
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Payment must be received in full no later than 60 days prior to the event start date.
Cancellations made more than 60 days before the event start date are eligible for a full refund.
For cancellations made between 60 and 30 days prior to the event start date, 50% of the total amount paid will be refunded.
For cancellations made between 30 and 5 days prior to the event start date, 25% of the total amount paid will be refunded.
No refunds will be issued for cancellations made within 5 days of the event start date, or after the event has commenced.
What Sets Us Apart
01
Purposely built for the jungle
Most certifications are designed for general outdoor environments. Ours are built specifically for tropical rainforest operations, guiding, safety, and field leadership.
02
The complete jungle skillset
Master the combination of safety, ecology, interpretation, and guest experience needed to lead exceptional jungle experiences.
03
Build a career with long term impact
Gain internationally aligned credentials that help advance careers, strengthen local communities, and support long-term conservation.