Israel's ATLS Program: Summary and Outlook
Ron Ben Abraham, Michael Stein, Yoram Kluger, Gideon Paret, Avraham Rivkind, Joshua Shemer
Medical Dept., Israel Defense Forces and Israel Trauma Society
In recent years a vigorous effort has been made to improve quality of primary trauma care in Israel. Advanced trauma life support courses (ATLS) were given to physicians throughout the country, regardless of their specialties. In 7 years 4229 physicians participated in 202 courses with an average success rate of 76%. In the future, issues such as mandatory vs. voluntary training, language barriers, and continuous decline of knowledge should be addressed if momentum is to be maintained.