ATCN COURSE

Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses ® (ATCN) is a continuing education course aimed to nurses registered in health care employees´ registry, and that are interested in broadening their knowledge regarding caring for a patient with multiple injuries.

The ATCN course has been instructed in the States since 1984. 2000. The ATCN programme was added under the auspices of the Society of Trauma Nurses, STN in 2000. STN is a professional nursing organisation that ensures sustainable trauma care training. STN is a non-profit organisation and it offers administrative support and guidelines to ATCN.

ATCN course is instructed at the same time as Advanced Trauma Life Support ® (ATLS) course, which is instructed by leading Estonian surgeons, emergency medicine doctors and anaesthesiologists. The advantage of the ATCN course is an educational model, which promotes processes of critical thinking, collaboration and syncronised approach as teamwork when taking care of a patient with a trauma injury together with the participants of the ATLS course. Therefore, the doctors and nursing dealing with patients with traumas use the shared language and mindset when treating their patients.

Nurses and doctors participate in ATLS lectures. Nurses are separated from the doctors for the ATLS practical training, and graded practical training and nurses are directed to ATCN for practical training.

1. The topics covered in interactive practical training sessions are:

• Initial assessment and management
• Airway and breathing management
• Haemorrhagic shock
• Paediatric trauma
• Head injury

• Musculoskeletal trauma and spinal trauma

   

2. Seminar

• Discussion session of ATCN pre-test
• Graded practical trainings
• Initial assessment and management (exercises and an exam)

• Written exam

   

ATCN practical training is based on an interactive scenario-based approach, which improves critical thinking using the principles of adult education. Graded practical training allows the participants to demonstrate how they use the information gained at ATLS and ATCN on a simulated patient. ATCN Student Manual follows the programme of practical training. ATLS Student Manual follows the programme of interactive discussion sessions of ATLS.

STN does not give the nurses certificates nor grants them authority; the certificate of STN-ATCN programme proves that they have successfully passed the ATCN course.

Additional information can be found on ATCN Eesti Facebook.