Veterinary Advanced Trauma Life Support

For veterinarians, veterinary students, and veterinary teams, who want to enhance their confidence, competence, and communication while managing emergent patients, the Veterinary Advanced Trauma Life Support (VetATLS) is an education program that improves trauma patient outcomes. The pillars of the program include clinical knowledge and skills, communication, teamwork, leadership, and networking across providers.

• Traumatic injury is a leading cause of death in young and otherwise healthy dogs and cats.
• Trauma can happen anywhere and present to any veterinarian.
• This is where the veterinary team’s skills impact life and death.
• Clinical competence, confidence, and team communication in crisis impact trauma patient outcomes.
• The best way to improve trauma patient outcomes is through education.

The intended learner is any veterinary practitioner who seeks to improve the care of veterinary trauma patients. Specifically, general practice and emergency clinicians who see trauma cases with some regularity will be targeted. The intended learner spans a variety of geographic locations, practice compositions, and years out of practice.

• We teach to the highest standards of care by demanding quality and consistency.
• We are non-judgmental.
• This is A way to teach veterinary trauma (not necessarily THE way).
• We use a common language that spans all aspects of the course.
• We focus on material that is evidence-based and most important to improve care.

• Clinical skills and knowledge
• Communications
• Teamwork and leadership
• Regional networks and resources

• VetATLS has a signed MOU with the American College of Surgeons Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). This is the first major partnership between veterinary and human medical CE programs, allowing VetATLS to adapt framework, philosophies, and a common language of the human course.
• VetATLS is also strongly supported by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC), giving the course the stamp of approval from experts in the veterinary trauma space.
• The course will comprise the educational arm of the Veterinary Committee on Trauma, which also directs the certification of veterinary trauma centers (VTCs) and of the veterinary trauma registry. The support of the VTCs will allow for rapid and national dissemination of the live skills lab. Access to the trauma registry will facilitate evidence-based iterations of the course using the data collected from real trauma cases.

The course is organized into 11 modules. Each module is based on a body system or element of triage. The modules are as follows:

1. Initial Assessment and Management
2. Airway and Ventilatory Management
3. Shock
4. Thoracic Trauma
5. Abdominal and Pelvic Trauma
6. Head Trauma
7. Spine and Spinal Cord Trauma
8. Musculoskeletal Trauma
9. Bite Wounds
10. Environmental Trauma
11. Transport to Definitive Care

The modules are designed to be short, easily understood, and focused on key information about trauma care and stabilization. The following questions should be addressed in each module:

• What are the most common injuries for this type of trauma that need to be readily identified?
• Once the problems are identified, what can you stabilize? What tools and skills are required?
• What is required for definitive care? Can definite care be provided with the hospital’s tools and expertise, or is transfer recommended?

The module topics will be delivered through an online learning platform. They will be accompanied by videos, pictures, algorithms, and charts. The in-person portion of the course will feature short live lectures and skills stations to cement key psychomotor skills. The modules will be accompanied by supplementary material on the following topics:

A. Ocular Trauma
B. Species-Specific Considerations
C. Teamwork and Leadership
D. Client Communications
E. Financial Considerations
F. Abuse and Neglect
G. Resource-Limited Environments
H. Extremes of Age Considerations

There will be both an online and an in-person assessments to measure competency and understanding. The assessments will be rooted in objective parameters that will guide knowledge retention throughout the course.

Form: Name, Email, Question ([email protected])

Email course coordinators at any point:

Dr. Kelly Hall – [email protected]
Dr. Claire Tucker – [email protected]