(12.) The ACS-COT recommends that any credentialing process for trauma surgeons involve a look at specific training and continuing medical education credits in trauma and critical care, successful completion of the ACS's
advanced trauma life support course, and participation in trauma conferences and peer review.
According to
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) guidelines, pelvic X-ray (PXR) is mandatory in the initial survey of poly-trauma patients2 though it contains some degree of false negativity.2,8-10 According to the 9th edition of ATLS guidelines,11 cervical spine, thoracic and PXRs are recommended as part of the primary survey.
Even having attended an
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS[R]) course influenced the practice of FWR as 84% of doctors who had attended an ATLS course practise FWR (Table III).
In this series of papers we are reviewing the radiographs performed as part of the
advanced trauma life support (ATLS) trauma series, and this paper deals with pelvic radiographs.
Formal training in tracheostomy was reported by 70% of surgeons and 26% had attended an
advanced trauma life support or early management of severe trauma (EMST) course.
Now that 1- and 2-day courses such as basic life support (BLS), advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS),
advanced trauma life support (ATLS), advanced medical life support (AMLS), advanced paediatric life support (APLS and PALS) and advanced neonatal life support (ANLS) are readily available countrywide, it is encouraging to note that an increasing number of emergency departments are now requiring certification in some or all of these programmes as a condition of employment, in an endeavour to raise the standard of practice of emergency care.
(3) Despite this fact, until the mid-90s, military trauma guidelines for battlefield trauma care mirrored the strategies used in the civilian sector, largely rigidly following
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) guidelines.
The primary survey and resuscitation are the same as for any other trauma patient, as outlined by the
Advanced Trauma Life Support course[16] summarized in Table 2.
He introduced the
Advanced Trauma Life Support concept into South Africa and poured his energy into making it an integral part of undergraduate as well as postgraduate student training.
Modern principles of
advanced trauma life support entail dispersing resuscitative surgical teams widely around the combat / conflict zone in a forward leaning posture.