Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, is one of the newest teaching sites for Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN) and the first in Nebraska. Several members of Bryan's trauma program completed an ATCN Faculty Course in May furthering plans to offer ATCN Student Courses simultaneously with Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Courses at this American College of Surgeons verified level II trauma center. Robbie Dumond, Trauma Program Manager at Bryan Medical Center, explains the impetus, "ATCN(R) adds an exciting advanced educational opportunity for our registered nurses interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in managing multiple trauma patients."

The idea of initiating an Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses program in Nebraska was suggested by Reginald Burton, MD, FACS, FCCM, Trauma Director at Bryan Medical Center after a discussion with Michael Glenn, ATCN International Chair. As described by Dr Burton, who has served on the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma on both regional and national levels, "The Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses Course takes trauma education to a new level in Nebraska. The collaboration between nursing and physicians encouraged by this course is an extremely beneficial asset to the care of trauma patients across the continuum." Not long after the course was proposed to the trauma team at Bryan Medical Center, an inaugural Student Course was offered with the assistance of ATCN faculty from St Louis, Missouri. A faculty course naturally flowed from that initial student course when several participants were identified as having "instructor potential." ATCN Educator Richard Henn organized and directed the faculty course in late May.

Bryan Medical Center, formerly known as Lincoln General Hospital, was a site for one of the first ATLS Courses in 1978. Advanced Trauma Life Support was conceived from tragic circumstances. In February 1976, Dr Jim Styner, an orthopedic surgeon, and his family were critically injured in the crash of a small aircraft in rural Nebraska. Dr Styner observed that the care available at the local care facility was lacking in many respects. "When I can provide better care in the field with limited resources than what my children and I received at the primary care facility, there is something wrong with the system and the system has to change,"1 Dr Styner was recorded as saying. Dr Styner embarked upon a personal and professional mission to improve care for trauma patients. Joined by his colleague, Dr Paul "Skip" Collicott, and supported by the Lincoln Medical Education Foundation, Dr Styner offered the first ATLS Course in 1978. The program, which grew rapidly, was assumed in 1980 under the auspices of the American College of Surgeons both domestically and internationally.2

Similarly, ATCN arose from a perceived need for enhanced education for trauma nurses. The course originated in the early 1980s as a hospital-based trauma program at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and was subsequently adopted by nurses in Arizona, California, and Michigan. By 1997, the Society of Trauma Nurses assumed responsibility for the ATCN program and has offered it since as one of their flagship educational offerings. In 2000, the American College of Surgeons' ATLS Committee officially recognized and approved the ATCN Course for widespread implementation in conjunction with ATLS Courses in the United States and internationally. The core educational concept, a joint opportunity so that nurses and physicians learn a common approach to prioritizing and delivering life-saving trauma care, is enthusiastically embraced by participants.

Dumond summarizes the benefits of the new offering, "Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses takes trauma education for nurses to a new level in our region, a level of education that was part of the vision for ATLS by our Nebraska forefathers, Dr Styner and Dr Collicott." Undoubtedly, they would be proud of the progress!

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