Advanced Trauma Life Support

Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) is a structured approach to the early assessment and treatment of injured patients, organized around identifying and treating immediate threats to life.

ABCDE approach: A clinical sequence for assessing airway, breathing, circulation, disability, and exposure. ATLS organizes its primary survey around these five priorities.
Trauma team: A coordinated group of clinicians and staff who assess and treat severely injured patients. ATLS gives team members a shared sequence and common language during initial care.
Airway management: Assessment and intervention to maintain or restore an open passage for breathing. An obstructed airway is an immediate threat addressed at the start of ATLS.
Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses: A trauma education program designed for nurses caring for injured patients. It adapts structured trauma-care training to nursing roles rather than the ATLS course audience.
Primary survey: A rapid initial assessment that identifies and treats immediate threats to life. This is ATLS's first pass through the injured patient's urgent problems.
Emergency department: A hospital unit providing immediate assessment and treatment for urgent illness and injury. ATLS is commonly applied during the first hospital evaluation of trauma patients.
Hemorrhagic shock: A life-threatening state in which severe blood loss prevents adequate tissue perfusion. Recognizing and treating blood-loss shock is central to the circulation assessment.
Prehospital Trauma Life Support: A training program focused on trauma assessment and care before hospital arrival. Its setting is prehospital care, whereas ATLS centers on early hospital management.
Secondary survey: A systematic head-to-toe examination and history taken after immediate threats are addressed. ATLS proceeds to this fuller assessment once the primary survey is complete.
Prehospital care: Medical assessment and treatment delivered before a patient reaches a hospital. Early stabilization and handover can prepare the patient for an ATLS-style hospital assessment.

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