Advanced Trauma Life Support (Provider)

Entry requirements

Applicants must be practicing in Ireland and registered with the Medical Council of Ireland. Those eligible to apply for a course are SHOs, registrars, non-career middle grades, specialist registrars and consultants involved in trauma care. Priority for selection for a course will be given to those in trauma-receiving hospitals in the specialities of emergency medicine, anaesthesiology, trauma and orthopaedic surgery, and general surgery, but others in less frontline specialties involved in trauma care are welcome to apply.

Applications are not accepted from interns.

Course allocations

  • There are 20 places available on each Provider course.
  • There are a limited number of ATLS Provider courses held annually in Ireland, thus there is a high demand for places.
  • Places are not allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – instead, set criteria based on specialty, location, grade and reason for application are used to determine place allocations.
  • All correspondence relating to the ATLS Provider course will be sent by email.
  • Places will be allocated approximately eight weeks prior to a course date.
  • Applicants will have five days from issuing of offers to accept a place on a Provider course and full payment will be required at the time of accepting a place. Failure to adhere to these requirements will result in the place being offered to another applicant.

Fees

The fee for a doctor to attend an ATLS Provider course is €995. The fee to attend as a nurse, paramedical or medical student observer is €125.

Cancellation policy

  • A refund, less 20%, will be made if written notice of withdrawal is received more than six weeks prior to the course date. However, ATLS Ireland cannot provide a refund if online modules have been accessed.
  • Should you need to cancel your place within the cancellation period please email your site coordinator.

Reverification

  • Candidates should recertify their ATLS Provider status every four years. To retain a current status in the ATLS programme, you must reverify within a six month time frame – three months before your status expires to three months after expiration date. You should contact the ATLS National Coordinator at nationalatlsco-ordinator@rcsi.ie for details of reverification at that time.

Apply

Please submit an online application by clicking the 'Apply now' button.

Applicants, please use your existing RCSI CPD Hub credentials when applying.

Note: Please ensure you read the ATLS terms and conditions below before you begin an application.

Payment policy

Payments for this course must be made by credit card only. CPD-SS vouchers cannot be applied at the checkout for this course, as this course is not offered as part of the CPD Support Scheme.

Orders which are fully or partially paid for with the use of a CPD-SS voucher will be cancelled, and your place will not be secure.

Advanced Trauma Life Support (Provider): Terms and Conditions PDF | 345.9 KB Apply now

ATLS Instructor course

The ATLS Instructor Course is held annually. Those invited to attend the Instructor course have been recommended as instructor potential (IPs) have performed exceptionally well on the Provider course. Only candidates recommended as having instructor potential can apply for the ATLS Instructor course.

Eligibility for selection as an Instructor Potential (IP) 

A candidate must attend a full ATLS Provider course to be eligible for consideration as an IP. It is not possible to attend as a reverification candidate and be recommended as an IP. Should a candidate perform particularly well as a reverification candidate, s/he should be offered the opportunity to attend a full provider course at an appropriate time, if they are keen to be an instructor.

The qualities required in a suitable IP candidate include definite commitment to the programme, an excellent core knowledge, supportiveness of fellow candidates, demonstration of good teaching and communications skills, and credibility. To be credible, we have adopted the position that a candidate must be in one of the following grades to be considered:

  1. A consultant in a specialty dealing with major trauma.
  2. A Higher Specialist Registrar (SpR) in a specialty dealing with major trauma.
    a. In anaesthesiology this is a SAT 4 or higher.
    b. In surgery this is a SAT 4 or higher.
    c. In emergency medicine this is a Specialist Registrar Year 1 or higher.
  3. A general practitioner who has a demonstrable commitment to and involvement in major trauma care.
  4. A permanent non-career grade doctor in a specialty dealing with major trauma e.g. an associate emergency physician, associate specialist or staff grade.
  5. A doctor pursuing Specialist Registration through a non-training scheme route in a specialty dealing with major trauma who is in the active process of making such an application to the Medical Council.
  6. An Irish Defence Forces military doctor liable for overseas deployment with a demonstrable commitment to and potential involvement in major trauma care.

Upon successful completion of the Instructor course, the instructor candidate must attend one Provider course as an instructor candidate (IC) to complete their teaching requirement to become a full ATLS Instructor. To maintain ATLS Instructor status, instructors must teach a minimum of one course each year or four in a reverification cycle.

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