ATLS Program Overview Quiz

Purpose and History of ATLS

• The Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course provides a safe and reliable method for the immediate treatment of injured patients.
• The concept of the “golden hour” emphasizes the urgency necessary for successful treatment of injured patients.
• The ATLS course provides essential information and skills for doctors to identify and treat life-threatening and potentially life-threatening injuries.

Importance of Trauma Centers

• The importance of trauma centers has been a core element of ATLS from its inception.
• The dissemination of ATLS principles has contributed significantly to the general acceptance of this concept.

Evolution of Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

• Before the 1960s, there were few standards regarding ambulance equipment or training of attendants.
• The 1973 Emergency Medical Services Act established guidelines and provided funding for regional EMS development.
• EMS systems rapidly developed and matured over the next 25 years.

Initial Assessment and Management

• The PRIMARY SURVEY WITH SIMULTANEOUS RESUSCITATION involves rapid assessment and management of injured patients.
• Assume that a spinal injury exists, and take care to prevent excessive movement of the cervical spine.

Airway Management

• Management of the airway in pediatric patients requires knowledge of unique anatomic features of the position and size of the larynx in children.
• Use a cervical collar to protect the cervical spine, and manually restrict motion of the cervical spine during airway management.
• Frequently reevaluate airway patency to identify and treat patients who are losing the ability to maintain an adequate airway.

Breathing and Ventilation

• Airway patency alone does not ensure adequate ventilation.
• Identify and treat patients who are losing the ability to maintain an adequate airway.

Blood Volume and Cardiac Output

• Hemorrhage is the predominant cause of preventable deaths after injury.
• Identify, quickly control hemorrhage, and initiate resuscitation in assessing and managing injured patients.
• Assess a patient’s hemodynamic status through clinical observation of level of consciousness, skin perfusion, and pulse.

Shock and Bleeding

• Rapid and accurate assessment of an injured patient’s hemodynamic status is essential.
• Identify the source of bleeding as external or internal, and assess the presence and degree of shock through blood gases and/or lactate level.
• Initiate IV fluid therapy with crystalloids, and consider blood transfusion if a patient is unresponsive to initial crystalloid therapy.