ATLS Faculty Types

National Faculty

The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS COT) Chair and Vice-Chair, Chiefs of the ACS Regional Committees (past or present), and the members of the Committee on Advanced Trauma Life Support^® (ATLS^®) to the ACS COT.

Regional Faculty

The ACS state/provincial (S/P) COT Chairs (or Program Directors in other countries in which the program is offered under the auspices of an approved surgical organization or society).

State/Provincial Faculty

S/P faculty members are appointed at the discretion of the S/P Chair, or the International Program Director, and assist in the training of the ATLS instructors and students.

Instructor Course Director

The course director for an instructor course should be the S/P COT Chair or International Program Director. The chair may delegate this responsibility to an S/P faculty member who is a surgeon and is qualified as a course director for an Instructor course.

Student Course Director/Co-Director

The course director is responsible for being present and available during the entire course to ensure that the quality of the course and the essential requirements established for the course are maintained.

Instructor Faculty

Instructor faculty are defined as doctor instructors of the ATLS Program and serve as mentors to course participants when teaching in an ATLS Student or Instructor Course.

Instructor Candidate

Instructor candidates are doctors who successfully complete the ATLS Student course, are recognized as having Instructor Potential, and successfully complete the Instructor course but have not yet completed their teaching requirement.

Educator Faculty

The medical educator must be able to explain, interpret, and put into context the principles of teaching and learning that are embedded in the ATLS program. 

Course Coordinator

The course coordinator is the course organizer who, working closely with the director, is primarily responsible for pre-course planning, a smoothly run course, and post-course summation.