PHTLS — Prehospital Trauma Life Support    

NAEMT's Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) is recognized around the world as the leading continuing education program for prehospital emergency trauma care.

PHTLS promotes excellence in trauma patient management through global education of all providers involved in the delivery of prehospital care.  PHTLS is developed by NAEMT in cooperation with the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.

PHTLS courses improve the quality of trauma care in your area and decrease mortality. The program is based on a prehospital trauma care philosophy, stressing the treatment of the multi-system trauma patient as a unique entity with specific needs. This may require an approach to the trauma patient that varies from traditional treatment modalities.

PHTLS promotes critical thinking as the foundation for providing quality care. It is based on the belief that, given a good fund of knowledge and key principles, EMS providers are capable of making reasoned decisions regarding patient care. The PHTLS course is continuously updated and revised to keep up with the advances in the field, ATLS Guidelines and feedback from PHTLS participants.  

PHTLS programs are developed from the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Program, a course for physicians developed by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. They follow the principles of trauma care developed by the Committee on Trauma. The Committee provides the medical direction and content oversight for the PHTLS program. 

Although PHTLS originated in the United States, it has evolved and now serves as an international education program available to EMS providers in 42 countries including Aruba, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Kenya, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuanian, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands,   Norway, Oman, Paraguaya, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uruguay. 

• For a complete list of Committee on trauma chairs in your area, please refer to our list of COT Chairs.     
• For a complete list of PHTLS Regional, State and Affiliate Faculty in your area, please call the NAEMT Headquarters at 1-800-34-NAEMT.   
• Purchase PHTLS Textbooks, logo wear, lapel pins and much more at our EMS Online Store.
• Learn more about the Seventh Edition PHTLS textbook at http://phtls.elsevier.com.  
• We will post updates and changes that occur between editions of PHTLS on these pages along with the science supporting those changes. Any errors that are found in our materials will be addressed at
  7th Edition Errata.  
• For more information about PHTLS, including biographies on the members of the PHTLS Committee, the history of PHTLS, and additional information about trauma care, click here.
• See our section on Frequently Asked Questions to read the answers to the most common questions asked about the PHTLS program and running a course.