A tragedy occurred in February 1976 that changed trauma care in the "first hour" for the injured patient. An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jim Styner, piloting his plane, crashed in a rural Nebraska cornfield. The surgeon sustained serious injuries, three of his children sustained critical injuries, and one child sustained minor injuries. His wife was killed instantly. The care he and his family received was inadequate. The surgeon, recognizing how inadequate his treatment was, stated: "When I can provide better care in the field with limited resources than what my children and I received at the primary care facility, there is something wrong with the system and the system has to be changed".

 

A group of private-practice surgeons and physicians in Nebraska in association with different other organizations identified the need for training in advanced trauma life support. A combined educational format of lectures, associated with life-saving skill demonstrations, and practical laboratory experiences formed 1978 the first prototype ATLS Course for doctors. This course was based on the assumption that appropriate and timely care could significantly improve the outcome of the injured. The original intent of the ATLS Program was, and still is, to train doctors who do not manage major trauma on a daily basis. One year later, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT), recognizing trauma as a surgical disease, enthusiastically adopted the course under the imprimature of the College and incorporated it as an educational program.

 

Course development and dissemination

The ATLS Course was given nationally in the United States for the first time in 1980. Canada became an active participant in the ATLS Program in 1981. Countries in Latin and South America implemented the ATLS in 1986. Since its inception, the program has grown in the number of courses, participants and number of countries. By 2002, the course had trained approximately 350'000 doctors, in more than 40 countries. Currently about 1'300 to 1'400 courses are held worldwide each year. The ATLS-manual is actually in its 6th edition (1997) and the 7th edition will be available by the of 2004.

During fall 1997, 8 swiss surgeons and anesthesists successfully participated in an initial ATLS training in Columbia (South Carolina, USA) consisting of a Student Course followed by an Instructor Course. June 1998, they organized and implemented with success the Inaugural Student and Instructor Courses in Basel under supervision of ACS National ATLS Faculty (doctors, educator, and coordinator). From this point on, promulgation of the ATLS training program could be offered by the ATLS® Switzerland Faculty, thus joining as the 30th country the international ATLS community.