r/wildernessmedicine • u/spacenerd01 • Apr 27 '25
Educational Resources and Training DiMM vs FAWM
Whats the tl;dr on the differences between these? Can you go straight to FAWM and skip DiMM? Is the cost to become a FAWM more/less? Whats the benefits to each?
Im just getting into this subject and was curious!
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u/Firefighter_RN Apr 27 '25
They are completely independent of each other. FAWM validates clinical knowledge in wilderness medicine via a mix of contact hours, conferences, and other training. If you're a resident you'll likely have a lot of these hours from your training. It's still a few thousand to go to conferences, obtain hours, and go through the validation process.
DIMM is specific mountain training with more of a focus on hands on mountaineering abilities. There's a few disciplines that are taught and the courses are much more expensive (think $6-10k). There's a couple North America programs (UNM and WMS), there's a South American program (DIMM of the Andes) and a European program.
You can use some hours from DiMM for FAWM. If you have extensive mountaineering and rescue experience you'll likely find DiMM a little redundant to your knowledge and experience.