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ITLS Education

International Trauma Life Support Courses give you the knowledge and hands-on skills to take better care of trauma patients. The ITLS framework is a global standard that enables you to master the latest techniques in rapid assessment, appropriate intervention and identification of immediate life-threatening injuries.

About ITLS Courses                              ITLS Instructor Courses                     

ITLS Basic and Advanced                    Enrolling in an ITLS Course               

ITLS Access                                            Course Protocol               

ITLS Pediatric                                         Course Medical Director Policy                       

ITLS Military                                             Course Fees

About ITLS Courses:  Focused Content That Delivers

ITLS is accepted internationally as the standard training course for prehospital trauma care. It's used as a state-of-the-art continuing education course — and as an essential curriculum in many paramedic, EMT and first-responder training programs.

ITLS courses combine classroom learning and hands-on skill stations. Scenario assessment stations enable you to put your learning to work in simulated trauma situations. ITLS courses are designed, managed and delivered by course directors, coordinators and instructors experienced in EMS, prehospital care and the ITLS approach.

Each ITLS course includes a comprehensive manual sent to you in advance. The manual enhances your learning experience with in-depth content, photos and illustrations. ITLS manuals are written by trauma care experts and edited by the ITLS editorial board. After the course, you can turn to the manual as a valuable recap of what you've learned.

During the coming years, ITLS courses will transition from the "BTLS" to the "ITLS" name. ITLS' current courses have the BTLS imprint.

To be certified, a course must be taught by registered BTLS instructors under the sponsorship of ITLS International , an ITLS chapter, or an ITLS training centre. The course does not certify future performance nor does it confer license of any kind upon successful completion.

ITLS empowers EMS personnel with the knowledge and skills to provide optimal care for the injured in the prehospital setting. We offer a variety of training options to suit the requirements of all levels and backgrounds of prehospital emergency personnel around the world.  

ITLS Basic and Advanced

These comprehensive courses are designed for providers who are first to evaluate and stabilize the trauma patient. The courses provide complete training in the skills needed for rapid assessment, resuscitation, stabilization and transportation of trauma patients.

The ITLS Basic course provides the core of knowledge and skills appropriate for all levels of EMS personnel, including EMT-Bs, first responders and other technicians.

The ITLS Advanced course builds on this knowledge, emphasizing evaluation steps and sequencing as well as techniques for resuscitating and packaging patients. ITLS Advanced is appropriate for advanced EMTs, paramedics, trauma nurses, physicians and other advanced EMS personnel. Hands-on stations include:

  • Patient assessment and management
  • Basic and advanced airway management
  • Needle chest decompression and fluid resuscitation
  • Spinal motion restriction — rapid extrication, short back board, helmet managment, log roll, and long back board/ scoop stretcher utilization
  • Extremity immobilization and traction splint application

ITLS Basic and Advanced courses use the 6th edition ITLS for Prehospital Care Providers manual.

 

ITLS Access

ITLS Access give EMS crews and first responders the training they need to reach, stabilize and extricate trapped patients. The updated course includes techniques for hybrid vehicles, trucks, buses and small aircraft in addition to its primary focus on traditional vehicles. The eight-hour course is built around the concept of using hand tools commonly carried on an ambulance or first responder unit.


ITLS Pediatric

ITLS Pediatric continues the training of the Basic and Advanced courses with an emphasis on understanding and responding to trauma in children. The eight-hour course teaches the proper assessment, stabilization and packaging of pediatric trauma patients. It also highlights techniques for communicating with young patients and their parents. Hands-on stations include:

          • Patient assessment and management
          • Airway management and chest decompression
          • Fluid resuscitation
          • Spine motion restriction — pediatric immobilization device
 

ITLS Military

ITLS offers a custom edition of a stand-alone military edition text, edited by a military surgeon. The scenarios are military based and cater to military personnel.

 

ITLS Instructor Courses

Instructor courses prepare EMS professionals to teach ITLS courses. To participate, potential instructors must successfully complete the course they want to teach, demonstrate instructor potential, and meet local chapter requirements.

ITLS International's policies regarding achieving instructor status are:

          • Obtain at least 86% on the written test in a provider course
          • Obtain an excellent on the practical test in a provider course
          • Be recommended to take an instructor course by an affiliate faculty

      If these items are accomplished, the following must be satisfied:

      • Attend a BTLS instructor course
      • Be monitored in a skills station, testing station, and giving a lecture, resulting in a “favorable evaluation"

Enrolling in an ITLS Course
ITLS provides its courses through its chapters and training centres. Each chapter is based on a geographic region, with the exception of the U.S. military. ITLS establishes training centres that enable proprietary training organizations to education their own personnel in ITLS.

Find your local chapter

Course Protocol
 For ITLS provider courses, the instructor-to-student ratio is 1:4 due to the skills stations. The usual course size is 16-20 students. Students who achieve instructor potential at the provider course may attend an instructor course.

Course Medical Director Policy
ITLS International strongly recommends on-site involvement of physician instructors in ITLS courses to integrate material into the local emergency medical service systems, as well as to provide medical oversight.

Each course must have a medical director who is available for consultation during the course. The course medical director acknowledges accountability by being familiar with all course content and ensuring the course is taught per guidelines of the chapter's policy and procedures and ITLS International.

When the course medical director is not on-site, each course must have a designated affiliate faculty who is on-site and accepts responsibility for overall quality assurance.

The participation of both the course medical director and affiliate faculty provide the necessary quality assurance, overall responsibility, and assures adherence to ITLS International standards.

Course Fees
ITLS International charges an assessment fee of $10.00 US per student taught (pass or fail). There is no International fee for Instructor Recertification students. The fee is effective for all students trained starting January 2, 2008.

ITLS Chapters usually also assess a fee, which includes the ITLS International fee. Course fees are set by the sponsoring organization and range from $75-$200 US per student. Course fees cover instructor expenses, food for victims, any disposable equipment, etc. There would also be the need to allocate funds for the purchase of course manuals.