Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants
Objectives Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) focuses on care of injured patients in the first hour of resuscitation. Expanded demand for courses has led to a concurrent need for new instructors. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs/PAs) work on trauma services and duties include patie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2024-07-01
|
| Series: | Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open |
| Online Access: | https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/9/1/e001195.full |
| _version_ | 1826804182107029504 |
|---|---|
| author | Julie A Dunn Travis Polk Catherine Wilson Jeannette Capella Alysia Wiley Kim McFann Craig Baumgartner Brad Chernock Melanie Hallman Dennis Taylor John Sutyak Theresa Campo Tim Thorton |
| author_facet | Julie A Dunn Travis Polk Catherine Wilson Jeannette Capella Alysia Wiley Kim McFann Craig Baumgartner Brad Chernock Melanie Hallman Dennis Taylor John Sutyak Theresa Campo Tim Thorton |
| author_sort | Julie A Dunn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) focuses on care of injured patients in the first hour of resuscitation. Expanded demand for courses has led to a concurrent need for new instructors. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs/PAs) work on trauma services and duties include patient, staff, and outreach education. The goal of this project was to assess NP/PA self-reported knowledge and skills pertinent to ATLS and identify potential barriers to becoming instructors.Materials This was a voluntary 91-question survey emailed to NP/PA lists obtained from professional societies and online social media channels. NPs/PAs completed a survey reflecting self-reported knowledge, experience, comfort level, and barriers to teaching ATLS interactive discussions and skills. Responses were recorded using a Likert scale and results were documented as percentages. Number of years of experience versus perceived knowledge and comfort teaching were compared using a χ2 test of independence.Results There were 1696 completed surveys. Most NPs/PAs thought they had adequate knowledge and experience to teach interactive discussions and skills. Those with more years of experience and those who completed more ATLS courses had higher percentages. The number 1 barrier to teaching was lack of formal teaching experience followed by perceived hierarchy concerns. Experience and comfort with skills that fell below 50% were pediatric airway (49.5%), needle and surgical cricothyrotomy (49.8% and 44.8%), diagnostic peritoneal lavage (21.6%), and venous cutdown (20.8%).Conclusion NPs/PAs with experience in trauma reported having the knowledge and skill to teach ATLS. A majority are comfortable teaching interactive discussions and skills for which they are knowledgeable. The primary barrier to teaching was lack of formal teaching experience, which is covered in the ATLS Instructor course. Training NPs/PAs to become instructors would increase the instructor base and allow for increased promulgation of ATLS and trauma education.Level of evidence IV. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:30:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b518e060ea34499a6149589b55a996c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2397-5776 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-17T01:50:29Z |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b518e060ea34499a6149589b55a996c2025-02-15T16:30:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupTrauma Surgery & Acute Care Open2397-57762024-07-019110.1136/tsaco-2023-001195Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistantsJulie A Dunn0Travis Polk1Catherine Wilson2Jeannette Capella3Alysia Wiley4Kim McFann5Craig Baumgartner6Brad Chernock7Melanie Hallman8Dennis Taylor9John Sutyak10Theresa Campo11Tim Thorton12Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland, Colorado, USACombat Casualty Care Research Program, US Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA4 Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children`s Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, AustraliaDepartment of Surgery, The Iowa Clinic, Des Moines, Iowa, USATrauma and Acute Care Surgery, Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland, Colorado, USATrauma and Acute Care Surgery, Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland, Colorado, USANorthShore University HealthSystem, St Petersburg, Florida, USADepartment of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USASchool of Nursing, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USAWake Health Services, Raleigh, North Carolina, USASouthern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USAAANP, Austin, Texas, USAProvidence St Joseph Medical Center, Poulson, Montana, USAObjectives Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) focuses on care of injured patients in the first hour of resuscitation. Expanded demand for courses has led to a concurrent need for new instructors. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs/PAs) work on trauma services and duties include patient, staff, and outreach education. The goal of this project was to assess NP/PA self-reported knowledge and skills pertinent to ATLS and identify potential barriers to becoming instructors.Materials This was a voluntary 91-question survey emailed to NP/PA lists obtained from professional societies and online social media channels. NPs/PAs completed a survey reflecting self-reported knowledge, experience, comfort level, and barriers to teaching ATLS interactive discussions and skills. Responses were recorded using a Likert scale and results were documented as percentages. Number of years of experience versus perceived knowledge and comfort teaching were compared using a χ2 test of independence.Results There were 1696 completed surveys. Most NPs/PAs thought they had adequate knowledge and experience to teach interactive discussions and skills. Those with more years of experience and those who completed more ATLS courses had higher percentages. The number 1 barrier to teaching was lack of formal teaching experience followed by perceived hierarchy concerns. Experience and comfort with skills that fell below 50% were pediatric airway (49.5%), needle and surgical cricothyrotomy (49.8% and 44.8%), diagnostic peritoneal lavage (21.6%), and venous cutdown (20.8%).Conclusion NPs/PAs with experience in trauma reported having the knowledge and skill to teach ATLS. A majority are comfortable teaching interactive discussions and skills for which they are knowledgeable. The primary barrier to teaching was lack of formal teaching experience, which is covered in the ATLS Instructor course. Training NPs/PAs to become instructors would increase the instructor base and allow for increased promulgation of ATLS and trauma education.Level of evidence IV.https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/9/1/e001195.full |
| spellingShingle | Julie A Dunn Travis Polk Catherine Wilson Jeannette Capella Alysia Wiley Kim McFann Craig Baumgartner Brad Chernock Melanie Hallman Dennis Taylor John Sutyak Theresa Campo Tim Thorton Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open |
| title | Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| title_full | Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| title_fullStr | Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| title_short | Building capacity for ATLS trauma education: role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| title_sort | building capacity for atls trauma education role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants |
| url | https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/9/1/e001195.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julieadunn buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT travispolk buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT catherinewilson buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT jeannettecapella buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT alysiawiley buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT kimmcfann buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT craigbaumgartner buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT bradchernock buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT melaniehallman buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT dennistaylor buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT johnsutyak buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT theresacampo buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants AT timthorton buildingcapacityforatlstraumaeducationroleofnursepractitionersandphysicianassistants |