Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital has become a training centre for doctors to learn the latest techniques of life support for severely injured patients.
The Advanced Trauma Life Support three-day course is for A&E doctors, orthopaedic surgeons, and anaesthetists involved in traumatic injuries.
The hospital is one of just two centres in Greater Manchester providing the course, which focusses on treating patients in the first hour following a major accident.
Using interactive tutorials and simulated patient scenarios, the course develops doctors skills in quickly and safely assessing a patient’s condition, resuscitating and stabilising them.
Approved by the Royal College of Surgeons, it covers a number of areas including head, spine and stomach injuries, broken bones, managing the airway during resuscitation and x-rays.
The course, led by Dr Madapura Shashidhara an anaesthetist and trainer at Stepping Hill Hospital, together with course directors Dr David Adamson (a clinical director at Stepping Hill) and Dr Martin Smith (an A&E consultant at Salford Royal), has been two years in preparation.
The first training recently took place, and will run every year, enhancing Stepping Hill Hospital’s reputation as a centre for medical training.
Photograph: Stepping Hill Trauma Training centre – on the course (left-right) Dr Alice Campbell, Dr Shruti Ayyar, and Dr Shafee Shaikh