AIIMS provides training to nurses in trauma care

After doctors, it is the turn of nurses to get trained in advanced trauma care. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre has roped in foreign faculty specialising in advanced trauma care to train their nurses so as to provide concrete back-up to specialist doctors in case of accident-related emergencies, reports Rhythma Kaul.

After doctors, it is the turn of nurses to get trained in advanced trauma care.

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In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre has roped in foreign faculty specialising in advanced trauma care to train their nurses so as to provide concrete back-up to specialist doctors in case of accident-related emergencies.

The course, titled Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN), is certified by American College of Surgeons (ACS), which also has a copyright on Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course that
AIIMS trauma centre has been running successfully for more than a year.

“Road traffic accident is one of the primary killers in modern times. Whether we are able to save a life depends usually on how well we handle a patient during the initial hour. If our nurses also are adequately trained to handle accident cases, a lot of crucial time can be saved,” said Dr M C Misra, chief AIIMS Trauma Centre.

The United States has been running this course for nurses in its various medical since 1985, and the American faculty have had been imparting training in ATCN at 12 other countries in the world for more than a decade.

The course is run in two stages-provider course and instructor course. Provider course is for two-and-a-half days for every nurse.

Candidates are selected for a two-day instructor course from among those who successfully complete stage one. Those chosen for the instructor course can further pass on the skills to others after clearing the requisite examination.

A team of three foreign specialists started the course with the first batch of 16 nurses at Trauma Centre on March 11, and nine of them chosen for the instructor course will complete the training on Wednesday.

“This course helps nurses think independently. They won’t necessarily have to wait for instructions, rather can assess patient condition by themselves. This way physicians will have a solid support team and accident cases will be managed systematically,” said Richard Henn, ATCN international chair, society of trauma nurses.