Education, training and audit

Team leader training: The global standard for trauma team leader training is the ATLS course of the American College of Surgeons, although this is not always applicable for Europe which tends to see more blunt than penetrating injuries. Good practice indicates that the leader’s previous experience in trauma care should include a period sufficient to have been involved in the treatment of at least 50 trauma patients in a level I/II trauma centre emergency Department (in Europe such a department would be expected to admit more that 150-180 major trauma cases each year) [7].

Education and training of trauma team: Each trauma centre is responsible or the training of the trauma team and this is usually organised by a committee of trauma team leaders. In Germany, for example, team trauma training is aligned to pre-hospital and hospital phase protocols.

Audit: Together with the trauma co-ordinator, the group of trauma team leaders takes responsibility for the audit of the care and outcomes of all major trauma. This entails setting up a trauma registry and recording patient details by means of various scores, ratings and injury scales. (See 9. Data and Information systems).

Greater attention is needed worldwide to define and optimise the training of doctors and nurses in trauma care (both in basic education and post-graduate settings. A range of available courses are listed in the Guidelines for Essential Care [36].