Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support
Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support ( PHTLS for short , German: preclinical trauma management ) is the worldwide concept for the preclinical care of seriously injured patients. PHTLS is a protected and registered trademark.
PHTLS is a two-day training program that trains participants in the rapid detection and treatment of acutely life-threatening injuries as part of preclinical trauma care . It is based on the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS).
development
The surgeon Dr. James Styner was on a flight home from a family celebration with his family on February 12, 1976 when his plane crashed. His wife died at the crash site, he and the rest of his family were seriously injured and taken to a small hospital. However, the receiving hospital was not up to the accident and was completely inadequate to care for the patients. From this experience, Dr. Styner and Paul E. Collicott developed the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) as a training program for clinical trauma management and a care strategy for the emergency room ( shock room ). The aim was to reduce the mortality of trauma patients in the first clinical care.
Dr. Norman McSwain, the first chairman of ATLS, then, as a founding member of the National Association of EMT (NAEMT), developed a concept for the preclinical, the Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS). Linked to the NAEMT, PHTLS started its first course in 1983.
The differentiation to the ITLS concept lies in the regional origin, since around the same time (1982) John Emory Campbell, an emergency doctor from Alabama (USA) recognized the need for structured care for trauma patients. ITLS works with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
structure
PHTLS International, based in the USA, is the parent association, linked to the American professional association NAEMT. All national faculties must be registered and licensed by PHTLS International. It seems particularly important to maintain close contact with the ATLS concept, since the ACS (American college of surgeons) provides the scientific basis for ATLS and thus also for PHTLS.
PHTLS is the most widespread trauma treatment concept that is also used in the majority of European countries. This concept has already been successfully introduced in over 35 countries. By 2007, well over 500,000 people worldwide had been trained in PHTLS, including rescue service personnel , soldiers, nursing staff and doctors of all specialties, members of the fire brigade and helpers on site .
After ATLS was introduced in Germany in 2004 by the German Society for Trauma Surgery (DGU), PHTLS was able to operate in the summer of 2007 under the umbrella of the German Rescue Service Association . V. (DBRD). Here, too, a close connection to scientific specialist societies is guaranteed. The DGU and the German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) are involved in this concept.
Content
The PHTLS concept aims to bring the participants closer to the rapid identification and targeted treatment of critical (vitally endangered) and non-critical patients. Despite course content such as anatomy and physiology of the endangered body regions, sound medical knowledge, practical experience and intensive preparation with the course book are required. In addition to the pathophysiology of life-threatening injuries, the background knowledge of trauma kinematics, rescue and immobilization techniques is a focus.
The concepts of the PHTLS are being adapted and expanded in the military under the name Tactical Combat Casualty Care .
literature
- Preclinical trauma management: Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) . 2nd Edition. National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians ( NAEMT ). Urban & Fischer Verlag / Elsevier, 2011, ISBN 3-437-48621-7 .