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  Modernizing
Trauma Training for Emergency DoctorsBy Kathryn Kuhn
The trend away from animal-based training in trauma courses for surgeons is accelerating. In July 2001, PCRM reported that five medical centers offered Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses using simulators and human cadavers, instead of live animals. Since then, we have learned that 14 more sites offer human anatomy-based training, bringing the total to 19. PCRM's Jerry Vlasak, M.D., and Pamelyn Ferdin, R.N., were inundated with questions from surgeons interested in human-based training at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) annual meeting in New Orleans late last year. They distributed PCRM's Innovations in Trauma Training CD-ROM, along with other information on nonanimal trauma training to hundreds of surgeons, including many ATLS instructors.
During the conference, the ACS Committee on Trauma approved the use of anatomical human simulators in place of live animals for ATLS instruction. Simulab's Trauma Man™ surgical trainer (www.Simulab.com), designed to teach surgical procedures including open diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL), catheter DPL, chest tube insertion, pericardiocentesis, and cricothyroidotomy, is one of the first simulators to receive ACS approval. Many instructors as well as surgeons seeking ATLS certification are enthusiastic about human anatomical simulators for teaching because they mirror the clinical situation, can be used repeatedly, and are highly cost effective.
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Doctors
interested in enrolling in or implementing nonanimal courses are now contacting
PCRM following our advertisements in The Journal of Trauma and
the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, which feature
Henry Heimlich, M.D. Dr. Vlasak is working directly with interested course
coordinators to bring cadaver- or simulator-based courses to their hospitals.
A list of medical centers already offering such courses is available at