The European Trauma Course (ETC) is a modern, highly interactive international course focused on team-based care for patients with severe trauma. It was developed in collaboration with leading European professional societies (ESAIC, ESTES, EuSEM, and ERC) and is among the well-established educational programmes in the field of emergency medicine and comprehensive trauma management.
The course is also open to non-physician healthcare professionals in the role of TSP (Trauma Support Practitioner) — a full-fledged member of the trauma team who actively contributes to the care of severely injured patients in critical condition, but does not act as team leader. The TSP role was introduced into the ETC to reflect the key importance of non-physician professions in real-world care of the polytrauma patient and to provide them with the same quality of teamwork training as team leaders.
The course is organised under the auspices of the European Trauma Course Organisation and the Czech Resuscitation Council, the official partner of the European…The course is organised under the auspices of the European Trauma Course Organisation and the Czech Resuscitation Council, the official partner of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), in cooperation with the Slovak Resuscitation Council.
What the course offers
- emphasis on teamwork and leadership
- safe communication in critical situations
- hands-on practice in caring for the polytrauma patient
- a modern approach based on European guidelines
- realistic simulation scenarios
- decision-making under time pressure
- the systematic ABCDE approach in trauma
- effective collaboration between professions
A course where simply "knowing the algorithm" is not enough
The ETC is not a conventional lecture-based event. Participants work in teams and spend most of their time on hands-on practice of model situations. As a TSP, you take an active part in the work of the trauma team, rotating through two roles (depending on course size): team support (monitoring, blood sampling, assisting with procedures, etc.) and team leader support (recording the procedure in the form of a checklist, documenting completed interventions, verifying the correctness of the approach).
The course develops:
- clinical decision-making
- situational awareness
- crisis communication
- team coordination
- working under stress
Who the course is for
The course in the TSP role is intended for non-physician healthcare professionals who care for severely injured patients as part of an emergency department or trauma team, especially:
- registered nurses from emergency departments, anaesthesiology, and intensive care
- paramedics
- practical nurses and other trauma team members
- other non-physician professions involved in the care of trauma patients
Participation fee
Includes:
- Meals (lunches, a shared dinner, coffee breaks, drinks)
- ETC manual (in English)
- Online preparatory course (ETC e-learning)
- Registration in the ERC database (COSY Course System)
Accommodation is not included in the fee.
Course programme
The course runs over 2.5 days and is highly practical — participants spend 85% of their time in scenarios and workshops that simulate the admission of a patient with severe trauma in an emergency department setting (shock room). Teaching takes place in small groups whose composition mirrors a real trauma team, with physicians and TSPs working together.
Lectures and demonstrations
- Introductory lecture — principles of the ETC, the team approach to the trauma patient
- Non-technical skills and the roles of trauma team members
- Demonstration of a standard trauma patient admission scenario
Workshops and scenarios (29 scenarios over the first two days)
- Initial assessment and prioritisation in the trauma patient (primary and secondary survey)
- Airway management in trauma
- Recognition and treatment of shock, haemorrhagic shock
- Traumatic brain injury
- Chest injury
- Abdominal injury
- Pelvic injury
- Spinal and limb injury
- Thermal injuries and specific situations (hypothermia, burns, penetrating trauma)
- Interpretation of imaging methods (X-ray, CT)
- Multitrauma — setting priorities and treatment strategy
- Team communication, patient handover, and communication with the family
Non-technical skills (running throughout the course)
- The TSP role and supporting the trauma team from within
- Team briefing before patient admission (Zero-Point Survey)
- Communication within the team and with non-medical staff, the patient, the family, and consultants
- Role allocation, collaboration, and mutual support among team members under pressure
Final assessment
TSPs are assessed in the role of trauma team member, not team leader. There is no written theoretical exam in the course.
Participants receive an ETC certificate valid for 5 years upon successful completion of the course.
The official language of the course is English; each group has a Czech or Slovak-speaking instructor.