Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) Program

ABOUT ATLS

ATLS was developed by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT) and was first introduced in the US and abroad in 1980.

Its courses provide you with a safe and reliable method for immediate management of injured patients. The course teaches you how to assess a patient’s condition, resuscitate and stabilize him or her, and determine if his or her needs exceed a facility’s capacity. It also covers how to arrange for a patient’s inter-hospital transfer and assure that optimum care is provided throughout the process. If you don’t treat trauma patients frequently, an ATLS course provides an easy method to remember for evaluation and treatment of a trauma victim.

Injured patients present a wide range of complex problems. The Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) Student Course presents a concise approach to assessing and managing multiply injured patients. The course presents doctors with knowledge and techniques that are comprehensive and easily adapted to fit their needs. The skills described in the manual represent one safe way to perform each technique, and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) recognizes that there are other acceptable approaches. However, the knowledge and skills taught in the course are easily adapted to all venues for the care of patients.

The ACS and its Committee on Trauma (COT) have developed the ATLS program for doctors. This program provides systemic and concise training for the early care of trauma patients. The ATLS program provides participants with a safe, reliable method for immediate management of the injured patient and the basic knowledge necessary to:

Assess the patient’s condition rapidly and accurately Resuscitate and stabilize the patient according to priority Determine if the patient’s needs exceed a facility’s capacity Arrange appropriately for the patient’s inter-hospital transfer (who, what, when, and how) Assure that optimum care is provided and that the level of care does not deteriorate at any point during the evaluation, resuscitation, or transfer process

For doctors who infrequently treat trauma, the ATLS course provides an easy-to-remember method for evaluating and treating the victim of a traumatic event. For doctors who treat traumatic disease on a frequent basis, the ATLS course provides a scaffold for evaluation, treatment, education, and quality assurance. In short, ATLS is a measurable, reproducible, and comprehensive system of trauma care.

The Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) program can teach you a systematic, concise approach to the care of a trauma patient. ATLS was developed by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT) and was first introduced in the US and abroad in 1980. Its courses provide you with a safe and reliable method for immediate management of injured patients. The course teaches you how to assess a patient’s condition, resuscitate and stabilize him or her, and determine if his or her needs exceed a facility’s capacity. It also covers how to arrange for a patient’s inter-hospital transfer and assure that optimum care is provided throughout the process. If you don’t treat trauma patients frequently, an ATLS course provides an easy method to remember for the evaluation and treatment of a trauma victim.

Upcoming Sessions

We have no ATLS courses scheduled at this time, please check back in January for the 2025 course schedule.”

For more information or help with registration, please contact Stephanie Chamberlin, BSN, RN, Trauma Performance Program Manager, or Julia Tankersley Trauma Performance Improvement Coordinator at atls-programs@musc.edu

Course Types

1 Day course for providers newly seeking ATLS certification or those whose ATLS Certification has expired

Hybrid format has condensed the onsite lecture portion and requires providers to complete an online pre-test, 13 online modules, and post-test prior to arriving for the course

The onsite portion of the course provides minimal content overview, hands-on skill stations, triage scenario discussions, written and practical testing

Successful completion status valid for 4 years from course date

Provides doctors the opportunity to maintain a current status Half-day course allowing

ATLS certified providers the ability to renew their certification

The course includes content overview, skills stations, written and practical tests included

Successful completion status valid for 4 years from course date

Student Course participants identified as having instructor potential may advance to the Instructor

Course within a specified time frame Teaches the doctor how to teach the Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) Student Course

Eligibility to participate is limited to doctors in countries where the program has been introduced and promulgated by the ACS

With successful completion of the course, the provider has one year to complete their instructor candidate check off in order to become an independent ATLS instructor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Hybrid provider: 6:45 am to 7:15 pm

Refresher – 7:00 am to 2:45 pm

Instructor – 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

Designed for doctors and other qualified health care professionals who care for injured patients

Standards for successful completion established for doctors and other qualified health care professionals

ACS verifies participants' successful course completion

For the Hybrid provider course you will get online access to the mandatory course modules, quizzes and pretest along with an online PDF version of the course ATLS course manual.

You may pick up a hard copy of the course manual the day of the class or you have the option of picking one up in CSB Trauma Program Office or have one mailed to you.

For mailed copies, there will be a $15 shipping fee.

For the refresher course, you will get access to an online PDF version of the ATLS course manual along with the option to review quizzes.

Attendees will receive their manual the day of the class, but if you would like one mailed to you, please ad the $15 shipping fee to your registration.

You also have the option of picking one up in CSB Trauma Program Office, if you would like a manual ahead of time. As a reminder, everyone will receive a manual the day of the course.

Registration for the above ATLS courses are held in person at MUSC’s Main Campus in Downtown Charleston, SC

MUSC Health patient and visitors webpage provides the followiwng lists:

Hotels in Downtown Charleston

Hotels in North Charleston

Hotels in West Ashley

Course	MUSC HealthTrainees	MUSC Health Faculty / Apps	Non-MUSC Health Providers
Hybrid Provider	$200	$600; For mailed hard copies, add $15 to cover FED EX shipping.	$800; For mailed hard copies, add $15 to cover FED EX shipping.
Refresher	$150	$200; For mailed hard copies, add $15 to cover FED EX shipping	$400; For mailed hard copies, add $15 to cover FED EX shipping
Instructor	$0	$600	$800

MUSC Health Lancaster, MUSC Health Marion, MUSC Health Florence Medical Center, MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown, MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast, MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center. For additional questions or concerns, please contact a course coordinator.

Payment in full is expected a minimum of 2 weeks prior to the course Refunds for cancellations made more than 2 weeks prior to the course will be provided in full. Refunds for cancellations made 1 week prior to the course will be returned at 50%. Refunds for cancellations made within the week of the course will not be returned. MUSC providers with two or more cancellations within one week of the course will not be rescheduled for another course

Contact Us

MUSC ATLS

Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) Program

Upcoming Sessions

Course Types

Frequently Asked Questions