Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®)

This course is suitable for doctors at FY2 grade and above, equivalent staff grades and eligible advanced practitioners.

After attending this course, you should be able to:

• Demonstrate the concepts and principles of the primary and secondary patient assessments
• Establish management priorities in a trauma situation
• Initiate primary and secondary management necessary for the emergency management of acute life threatening conditions in a timely manner
• In a given simulation, demonstrate the skills related to ABCD which are often required during initial assessment and treatment of patients with multiple injuries

ATLS® is a highly interactive course, taught using a variety of practical techniques including simulated patient scenarios, unfolding scenarios stations, group discussions and tutorials. 

Mandatory, pre-course e-learning

Before the course, you will be required to complete the pre-course e-learning consisting of an overview chapter, 13 modules and quizzes, pre and post module MCQs and it takes approximately 1-2 hrs to complete each module. Full completion of the e-learning is a mandatory requirement to attend the course. Participants who have not completed the e-learning in full by 7am the day before the course will not be allowed to participate in the course and will forfeit their course fee.  

Course participants will receive access to the pre-course e-learning resources on the RCS VLE via a notification with log in details six weeks before the course at the latest.

It is also mandatory to read the ATLS® participant course manual prior to the face to face component of the course.

Assessment

You will be assessed throughout the course and you have to pass all assessed sessions to pass the course and be awarded ATLS® provider status.

There are interactive sessions and clinical scenario stations and your performance of practical skills and contribution to discussions which test participants’ core knowledge will be assessed throughout these sessions.

On the final day of the course you will take an MCQ test consisting of 40 questions with the pass mark of 28/40. If you are unsuccessful on the course you can take up to two resits within three months of the course. You will not be given your answer sheet or told which questions you answered incorrectly. Reading the ATLS® participant manual prior to the course is the best preparation for the MCQs - there are no lectures in the face to face component of the course; you must arrive with a high level of clinical knowledge. 

Moulage assessment will also take place on the last day of the course. You will be given a simulated clinical scenario and you will be assessed on the initial assessment and management of a patient according to objective assessment criteria. If you are unsuccessful in your first attempt on the course you will be given the opportunity to repeat the moulage assessment on the course using a different scenario. If unsuccessful, at the course director’s discretion, you might be given a final resit on another course. 

If you have not met the minimum standard to pass the course you will not be given the opportunity to re-sit failed sessions and you will have to successfully complete another provider course to gain ATLS® provider status.