• Trauma patient management

    Advanced Trauma Life Support for COVID-19

    We hope that this course will be helpful to you if you are:

    • A newly qualified doctor or nurse
    • A retired doctor or nurse returning to clinical practice
    • A clinician who will now be managing acute trauma where you might not have previously done so in your normal practice.

    The course consists of the following PowerPoint presentations:

    1. Initial Assessment of the Trauma Patient
    2. Airway
    3. Breathing
    4. Circulation
    5. Disability
    6. Adjuncts
    7. Restriction of Cervical Spine Motion
    8. Secondary Survey
    9. Transfer of the Trauma Patient

    We have also provided an e-learning module called 'Initial Assessment and Management' which is part of the Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) 10th edition course.

    Each PowerPoint presentation contains unfolding clinical scenarios to contextualise the information within them. There are reflective self-assessment questions to help you build your understanding of the material.

    Also, within some of the PowerPoint presentations we have embedded videos, which will help you understand some practical skills. Viewing these videos should not lead you to think you can now perform the skills without further teaching from other experienced clinicians but they will help you understand what is required.

    The videos have been supplied by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and are, therefore, sometimes not in line with UK practice (technique for surgical cricothyroidotomy, identification of landmarks for chest drain for example). You should be mindful of this - within the PowerPoint presentations there is additional commentary to compensate for this.

    Within the course there is also access to the 9th Edition ATLS® Manual with a brief presentation of changes to core knowledge in the current (10th) Edition.

    The presentations are closely based on the materials taught on the face to face component of UK ATLS® courses and all information is 'ATLS® aligned'. However, if you are an experienced clinician (or ATLS® instructor) and find any significant deviations from ATLS® teaching please let us know. 

    We acknowledge help from the ACS in releasing copyright materials for this purpose and also the hard work of ATLS® (UK) steering group members, past and present in developing the source materials.

    Using the modules and associated materials does not confer ATLS® Provider status or any other qualification but we do hope you find them useful in these extraordinary times.

    Jonathan Forty
    Chair ATLS® (UK) Steering Group
    Royal College of Surgeons
    Lara Zibners
    National Educator ATLS® (UK)

    Advice in the treatment of patients of Covid-19 is rapidly changing. We strongly advise in addition to the material in this resource bank, you refer to the latest guidance by PHE and NICE guidelines.

    Whilst the advice and information in this Resource Bank are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publishing, neither the author[s] nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.

    Trauma patient management resources are based on the Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) course. ATLS® resources are copyright of the American College of Surgeons, and these copyright interests are enforceable internationally. These materials may not be reproduced in any form.


    Technical recommendations

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    1. A modern browser but NOT Safari.
    2. A good uninterrupted connection.
    3. Allow pop-ups and session cookies.
    4. Complete each e-learning package and MCQs (if applicable) in a single session.

    Please see our separate Help page for more technical details, frequently asked questions and our contact details.

  • Initial Assessment and Management

  • PowerPoints

  • ATLS Manual

  • ATLS App