How to Get ATCN Started in Your State or Hospital

  2. Home
  3. Education
  4. ATCN
  5. How to Get ATCN Started in Your State or Hospital

How to Get ATCN Started in Your State or Hospital

If you are interested in conducting ATCN courses at your facility, please review the ATCN Start Up Paperwork Packet. After reviewing the information, please contact the ATCN Chair, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for US Courses and for courses outside the US, please contact Michael Glenn, RN. They will work with you through the following steps.

Course Documents and General Information

  • Contact the chair of your states ACSCOT (American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma), and review this program with them.  The state ACSCOT chair must provide a letter of support for ATCN before it can begin in your state.  If you already have an ATCN program in your state they will not need to provide a letter.

  • Review the ATCN program with your local ATLS Course Director.  The ATLS course director needs to provide a letter of support for ATCN.  ATCN is run in conjunction with an ATLS program and the physician ATLS Course Director must be supportive of ATCN.

  • Discuss the ATCN program with your local ATLS course coordinator. The ATCN course is conducted separately from, and overseen by an ATCN course director and faculty; the ATLS course coordinator does not have any direct responsibilities or role during an ATCN course. However, the ATLS course coordinator may be involved in ordering ATLS manuals, or arranging for shared catering, etc.  It is critical that the ATLS course coordinator understands what ATCN is, how it works, and how to best coordinate with the ATCN program.

  • Review the ATCN course with the administration/leadership of the host facility.  The space and equipment needed is similar to that of other trauma educational courses (i.e. ACLS, PALS, ENPC, PHTLS, TNCC, etc.) However, as the ATCN and ATLS course run in conjunction, careful coordination of rooms and equipment is crucial.

  • Budget.  There are costs to consider when starting up an ATCN program.  Review these costs with those that have any role in the budget/fiscal support for ATCN.   Several sample budgets are included in the startup packet. These can give you an estimate on new course start up, based on the experiences of others.

  • When you are ready to move forward, the National ATCN chair will assign a national or regional ATCN faculty member to work with you one on one to conduct your inaugural ATCN student course.

  • Scheduling.  Depending on the time of year, you should allow 5-6 months of lead time to go from step 1 to the actual date of your inaugural student course.

  • Student Course, Faculty Course, or both?  There are a few different options for starting up an ATCN program;
    1. Conduct an inaugural student course, from which a number of potential future ATCN faculty can be identified.  To be considered for an ATCN faculty position, an ATCN student must demonstrate a superior understanding of the content; have good teaching skills, a desire to teach ATCN and to educate future trauma nurses.  Only one course director may be checked off in an inaugural program, once the course director has been checked off this course director may check off future  instructor candidates and course director candidates.

    2. Following the inaugural student course, you will need to schedule an ATCN faculty course.  The ATCN faculty course runs independently from the ATLS program.  In some instances the faculty course is conducted immediately following the student course (with a 1 day break between courses to allow the faculty course participant’s time to prepare). In other cases, the faculty course is conducted several weeks or a few months later.  The timing is dependent on a number of factors, including but not limited to, the expenses related to bringing in national faculty to teach, the availability of space and availability of the participants.

    3. After the faculty course has been conducted the participants are considered faculty candidates.  The new faculty candidates are monitored at the next student course they teach in.  After successfully teaching in their first course, they are permitted to teach in future courses.

    • STN Footer

    About Us

    The Society of Trauma Nurses is a professional nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure optimal trauma care to all people locally, regionally, nationally and globally through initiatives focused on trauma nurses related to prevention, education and collaboration with other healthcare disciplines.

    Quick Links

    Mailing List

    Join the Society of Trauma Nurses mailing list for up-to-the-minute updates.

    Contact Us

    1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 205, Frankfort, KY 40601
    859-977-7456
    info@traumanurses.org