Advanced Trauma Life Support

Published by the American College of Surgeons, the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) serves as a set of guidelines for the care of an injury victim. This framework gives a single doctor operating out of a rural medical facility the capability to evaluate and manage multiple trauma.

In 1976, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jim Styner flew a plane into a field in Nebraska. His wife died upon impact, and three of his four children onboard were left in critical condition. Dr. Styner was so disappointed in the care that his children received that he vowed to revamp emergency trauma treatment all over the world. Through Dr. Styner's persuasion, medical, nursing, and EMS organizations throughout Nebraska formulated a set of standards that laid the groundwork for the management of these patients. This code of behavior was adopted by the American College of Surgeons, who amended and reissued it as the ATLS in 1980. Since then, it has been modified numerous times to reflect the changing times, with the most recent revision occurring in 1997.

The principles of the ATLS have been instituted globally, and doctors are able to attend regularly scheduled ATLS training courses in hospitals everywhere. This day in age, each physician and surgeon who has a say in how a trauma victim should be handled are expected to have completed the ATLS course.

Since new breakthroughs in regards to trauma care are common, the ATLS must be an evolutionary system. It is the responsibility of the medical professionals to constantly hone their skills and brush up on trauma treatment knowledge in accordance with the most up-to-date ATLS.

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