Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Course

The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) is recognized around the world as the leading continuing education program for prehospital emergency trauma care.

The mission of PHTLS is to promote excellence in trauma patient management by all providers involved in the delivery of prehospital care through global education. PHTLS is developed by NAEMTin cooperation with the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma. The Committee provides the medical direction and content oversight for the PHTLS program.

The program is based on a pre-hospital trauma care philosophy, stressing the treatment of the multi-system trauma patient as a unique entity with specific needs. This may require an approach to the trauma patient that varies from traditional treatment modalities. PHTLS promotes critical thinking as the foundation for providing quality care.

It is based on the belief that, given a good fund of knowledge and key principles, pre-hospital practitioners are capable of making reasoned decisions regarding patient care. The PHTLS course is continuously updated and revised to keep up with the advances in the field, ATLS Guidelines and feedback from PHTLS participants.

Course Objectives

• To provide a description of the physiology, patho-physiology, and kinetics of injury.

• To provide an understanding of the need for a rapid assessment of the trauma patient.

• To advance the participant's level of knowledge in regard to examination and diagnostic skills.

• To advance the participant's level of competence in regard to specific pre-hospital trauma intervention skills.

• To provide an overview and establish a management method for the pre-hospital care of the multi-system trauma patient.