| Advanced trauma life support | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Names | Advanced trauma life support |
| Abbreviation | ATLS |
Field | Medicine |
| History | |
| Inventor | James K. Styner, Paul 'Skip' Collicott |
| Invention date | 1978 |
| Description | |
| Organizer | American College of Surgeons |
| Participants | emergency physicians, paramedics and other advanced practitioners |
| Duration | 3 days (for hybrid course)[1] |
| Frequency | 1 week – 1 month |
| Additionally | |
Related courses | Advanced cardiac life support Pediatric advanced life support Fundamental critical care support |
Advanced trauma life support (ATLS) is a training program for medical providers in the management of acute trauma cases, developed by the American College of Surgeons. Similar programs exist for immediate care providers such as paramedics. The program has been adopted worldwide in over 60 countries,[2] sometimes under the name of Early Management of Severe Trauma, especially outside North America. Its goal is to teach a simplified and standardized approach to trauma patients. Originally designed for emergency situations where only one doctor and one nurse are present, ATLS is now widely accepted as the standard of care for initial assessment and treatment in trauma centers. The premise of the ATLS program is to treat the greatest threat to life first. It also advocates that the lack of a definitive diagnosis and a detailed history should not slow the application of indicated treatment for life-threatening injury, with the most time-critical interventions performed early.[2]
The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma has taught the ATLS course to over 1 million doctors in more than 80 countries. ATLS has become the foundation of care for injured patients by teaching a common language and a common approach.[3] However, there is no high-quality evidence to show that ATLS improves patient outcomes as it has not been studied. If it were studied, this would be known.[4][5]
- ^ "Advanced Trauma Life Support ATLS Provider Programme". Royal College of Surgeons.
- ^ a b Bouillon B, Kanz KG, Lackner CK, Mutschler W, Sturm J (October 2004). "[The importance of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) in the emergency room]". Der Unfallchirurg (in German). 107 (10): 844–50. doi:10.1007/s00113-004-0847-2. PMID 15452655. S2CID 36286887.
- ^ Rotondo, Michael. "About ATLS". The American College of Surgeons. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ Jayaraman, S; Sethi, D; Chinnock, P; Wong, R (Aug 22, 2014). "Advanced trauma life support training for hospital staff". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2014 (8): CD004173. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004173.pub4. PMC 7184315. PMID 25146524.
- ^ Jayaraman, S; Sethi, D; Wong, R (Aug 21, 2014). "Advanced training in trauma life support for ambulance crews". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2014 (8): CD003109. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003109.pub3. PMC 6492494. PMID 25144654.