The Pre-Hospital Trauma Care (PHTC) Course is a multi-disciplinary programme and the UK version is endorsed in the UK by the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (FPHC) of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Endorsement of the content was extended to the version run at SRIHER, Chennai. The course is open to individuals working for any of the emergency services, is a member of the armed forces or is a health care professional and who has contact with the seriously injured during the pre-hospital phase of care. The course will identity potential instructors and train them to deliver the course from SRIHER, Chennai thereby training more providers. It is a 2 to 3-day intensive programme aimed at providing candidates with the skills and knowledge to recognise the seriously injured patient and to provide appropriate interventions to manage the patient in the pre-hospital environment, within their scope of professional practice.
By the end of the course, candidates should be able to:
- Demonstrate a systematic approach to the identification and management of immediately life-threatening conditions in the seriously injured individual during the pre-hospital phase of care.
- Identify hazards associated with, and methods to control hazards associated with the pre-hospital trauma scene.
- Describe the assessment and management of the airway, breathing, ventilation and circulation in the seriously injured individual.
- Outline approaches to the management of the pre-hospital incident involving trauma.
In October 2022, we started work on this programme by holding a ‘Joint Workshop on Developing Pre-Hospital Care in India – A Potential Model for Developing Countries’. Following the workshop, the first Pre-Hospital Trauma Care courses were delivered at SRIHER, Chennai in April 2023. The courses attracted 41 multi-disciplinary candidates from India and Nepal who were enthusiastic participants. The pass rate was high and 18 candidates were identified as having Instructor Potential; these individuals will be invited back to future Instructor Courses to establish a core of instructors within the country to take the programme forward. The ambition is to approve further training centres and deliver more Provider courses with ongoing quality assurance visits from the FPHC.
