Remote Adventure Medicine Level 1 (RAMS 1) – It Starts Before You Ever Leave

There is a moment, usually sat with a coffee, when you look at a client list for your future trip and begin to piece things together. Ages, backgrounds, declared medical conditions, experience levels. You start to build a picture, and with that comes a quiet set of questions.

Who might struggle?

Who might push too hard?

Who might not tell you everything?

What could develop, not just what could happen?

That internal dialogue is something every experienced guide recognises, yet it is rarely taught in a structured way. It tends to be learned slowly, sometimes the hard way.

RAMS 1 was designed to bring that thinking forward, to make it part of the learning rather than something left to chance.

The course leans heavily into a person-centred approach, not as a phrase, but as a practical necessity. It asks you to look at the individuals you are responsible for and consider how their physiology, their mindset, and their behaviour might interact with the environment you are taking them into.

The Expedition as a Narrative

Rather than breaking medicine down into isolated lessons, we chose to build the course around a single idea: the unfolding journey of an expedition.

Over five days, the learning follows a narrative. Not a fixed script, but a developing story that mirrors the sort of trip many of us have run or will run. A journey through somewhere like Morocco, where conditions shift, fatigue accumulates, and the unexpected has a habit of appearing at exactly the wrong moment.

Within that story, things begin to happen.

Not all at once, and not in neat categories. A rider struggles with the heat. Another begins to show signs of dehydration that do not resolve as expected. Maybe a minor injury complicates clutch control. Or a decision made earlier begins to have consequences later in the journey. 

In reality, incidents rarely occur in isolation. They layer, they evolve, and they interact with each other in ways that are not always predictable. We wanted the learning to reflect that complexity, rather than simplify it away.

Experience Before Theory

What we have found over the years is that people remember what they have felt and worked through far more clearly than what they have simply been told.

So the course is built around experience learning.

The narrative derived course gives context to the medical knowledge and practical lessons. Skills are not taught in isolation, but as part of a developing situation. The protocols make more sense because they are being used for a reason, not just rehearsed.

That approach takes longer to build and to deliver, but it reflects the reality of guiding far more accurately than a series of disconnected lectures ever could.

Layering, Not Replacing

The starting point for most people accessing this course is the Remote First Aid at Work course. It laid down a foundation that can feel intense at the time, but it prepares people for what comes next in the RAM 1- a significant shit in clinal skills, advanced interventions and pharmacology. These are not presented as complex or abstract ideas, but as practical tools, taught within clear protocols and supported by a clinical governance framework that reflects the realities of remote work.

Planning as a Skill in Its Own Right

Another area that we felt was often underdeveloped in traditional training is the medical planning phase.

In practice, much of what determines the outcome of an incident has already been decided before the expedition even begins. The quality of the information you gather, the way you interpret it, and the assumptions you make all shape what happens later.

 Pre-Course study material presents you with the people you will be “travelling” with, their backgrounds, their potential risks, and their likely behaviours.

From there, you begin to plan.

Not in a theoretical sense, but in a way that mirrors what actually happens before a real trip. You consider what might develop, how you would manage it, and what resources you would need. You start to see how small details can become significant once you are out in the field.

It is the same thought process that runs through your mind before any expedition—only here it is slowed down, examined, and made repeatable.

Why It Had to Be This Way

The structure of RAMS 1 did not appear fully formed. It has been shaped over time, through experience, discussion, and a fair amount of reflection on what works and what does not.

The common thread through all of that has been a desire to make the learning feel as close as possible to the reality of the role. Not an academic process but i logical common sense set of skills and decisions that we will help you to match the clinal governance and best practice.

A Way of Thinking That Carries Forward

What tends to stay with people after the course is not just a set of skills, but a way of thinking.

The ability to look at a group and quietly assess what might unfold.

The habit of planning not just for what is likely, but for what is possible.

The confidence that comes from having worked through similar situations before, even if only in a training environment.

Why We Built It This Way

This is the course I (JP) wished i had attended when i started my journey down the Pre-hospital route many years ago, a course that gives the advanced medical awareness and realistic skills i can actually do in the field. With the support from Doctors and medical professions who understand the environment and situation we will be in. Ensuring that the interventions we are trained to do can be done effectively by the Guide with the right amount of training. 

Remote Adventure Medicine 2- The next level goes deeper into physiology and medicine which will layer really well onto the previous courses, ECG reading, more medications, greater skills to help with differential diagnosis, in areas of the world where you are several days away from a hospital and there is a high possibility helicopters aren’t available. 

Will I Be a Medic?

Medic is such a strange non specific term,  in many industries, for some it means First Responder, to others it means doctors. So let’s be clear, you will be certified as a Remote Adventure Medicine Level 1 . Some will call you the Medic, others will call you a First Aider, from a technical point of view you are the trips medical expert.

Sign up here – https://theoga.info/rams-1-remote-adventure-medicine/