Posted by NAEMT National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians on Sep 25th 2020

Prehospital Trauma Life Support - PHTLS

Prehospital Trauma Life Support - PHTLS

NAEMT's Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) is recognized around the world as the leading continuing education program for prehospital emergency trauma care. The mission of PHTLS is to promote excellence in trauma patient management by 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 and decrease mortality. The program is based on a philosophy stressing the treatment of the multi-system trauma patient as a unique entity with specific needs. 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 practitioners are capable of making reasoned decisions regarding patient care. The course utilizes the internationally recognized PHTLS textbook and covers the following topics:

  • Physiology of life and death
  • Scene assessment
  • Patient assessment
  • Airway
  • Breathing, ventilation and oxygenation
  • Circulation, hemorrhage and shock
  • Patients with disabilities
  • Patient simulations

PHTLS is the global gold standard in prehospital trauma education and is taught in 64 countries. PHTLS is appropriate for EMTs, paramedics, nurses, physician assistants, physicians, and other prehospital providers. PHTLS is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.


The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) is a national Emergency medical services professional association representing all EMTs and Paramedics. The NAEMT educational programs also have an international scope.

The mission statement of NAEMT (from their web site) "is to represent and serve emergency medical services personnel through advocacy, educational programs and research." Founded in 1975, the association is composed of multiple committees.

Three unique educational programs are offered by the NAEMT. These short courses consist of several lectures, as well as teaching and evaluation stations, over two days, for a total of 16 hours of training.