ITLS is a trauma course designed to teach emergency responders, paramedics, nurses, and physicians the appropriate assessment and treatment of critically injured trauma patients. First taught in 1982, ITLS is now recognized around the world as the standard for pre-hospital trauma care.
ITLS International has established chapters all over the world. Toronto Emergency Medical Services holds the provincial charter for ITLS training and is responsible for the administration and quality assurance of recognized ITLS programs in Ontario. All courses have a medical director approved by the chapter medical director and a recognized program coordinator.
| ITLS Ontario Staff |
| Medical Director: |
Dr. Martin Friedberg |
| Chapter Coordinator: |
KL Ashton, ACP |
| Administrative Support: |
Cathy Calabretta |
All courses are presented at The Christopher J. Rubes Centre For EMS Studies at Toronto EMS. For more information or to register for any of these courses, please contact:
For quality assurance and instructor issues regarding ITLS, please contact:
The Christopher J. Rubes Centre For EMS Studies is located at:
895 Eastern Avenue, 2nd Floor
Toronto, Ontario M4L 1A2
Courses taught under the charter include:
ITLS – Basic
ITLS – Basic is a two day trauma assessment and treatment course targeted at first responders and hospital staff that deal with trauma patients. Participants will be given didactic knowledge and hands on experience with oxygen delivery devices, basic airway devices, spinal motion restriction (immobilization) equipment, extrication devices and patient assessment tools.
Upon successful completion, participants will receive an ITLS International wallet card.
ITLS – Advanced
While similar to ITLS – Basic, ITLS – Advanced is offered to providers that already have an advanced skill set and wish to learn and practice how to incorporate that skill set into trauma care. ITLS – Advanced is therefore targeted to emergent care providers and is not offered to persons not certified or participating in advanced skills sets. Targeted groups for this course include Advanced Care Paramedics, Nurses, Physicians, Physicians Assistants and Military Medics.
Typically, Basic and Advanced students are combined on the same dates with instruction directed at the individual’s skill level.
Upon successful completion, participants will receive an ITLS International wallet card.
ITLS – Basic and Advanced Re-certifications
Re-certifications are generally done in concurrence with an ongoing Basic or Advanced courses and are one day long. Those wishing re-certification should contact the ITLS administrative assistant for availability.
Upon successful completion, participants will receive an ITLS International certificate and wallet card.
ITLS – Paediatrics
ITLS – Paediatric is a one-day course that will be useful both to first responders and to hospital staff who deal with paediatric trauma patients. Paediatric ITLS focuses on the unique challenges offered by the injured child and builds upon lessons learned in ITLS – Basic. While not mandatory for EMS or hospital personnel, it is very strongly recommended that participants take a ITLS – Basic course prior to ITLS – Paediatric if they do not work actively in an EMS/Hospital setting. Those with minimal pre-hospital care experience should take ITLS Basic first as ITLS Paediatric builds upon the lessons of ITLS Basic.
Upon successful completion, participants will receive a ITLS International certificate and wallet card.
ITLS – Access
ITLS – Access is a unique course designed to assist first responders, firefighters and EMS personnel when dealing with victims of motor vehicle collisions. This one day course contains classroom and practical components including, scene size-up and safety, vehicle stabilization, accessing the victim, disentanglement and patient extrication.
ITLS – Access is targeted towards firefighters and EMS personnel with the goal of teaching participants the concept of the team approach in the safe extrication of victims of motor vehicle collisions utilizing light rescue tools.
Upon successful completion, participants will receive a ITLS International certificate.
International Trauma Life Support Instructor Course
The ITLS Instructor course is a two and a half day course that allows successful graduates to instruct ITLS courses. Those eligible to take the instructor course must:
- Be currently certified at a minimum ITLS – Basic level
- Have scored 86% or better on their last written ITLS test
- Have scored "excellent" or "instructor potential" in their last practical test
- Been given a recommendation by the course coordinator of their last ITLS provider course
- Have a minimum of 2 years of EMS or equivalent* pre-hospital care experience
*Equivalent is defined as a full-time or part-time professional whose responsibilities and job requirements are inclusive of emergency/urgent patient care. An emergency room nurse, military medic or a full time firefighter may be considered equivalent. First aid, CPR and AED Instructor status are considered to be insufficient as stand alone credentials. Equivalency will be determined on an individual basis by the Chapter Medical Director and/or the Chapter Coordinator.
Please note that attendance at this course does not guarantee certification as an instructor and that all candidates will be re-certified at their certification level required to write and pass an instructor level exam on the first day to ensure currency in protocols.
Following course attendance, instructors are required to be monitored on their instructor performance prior to successfully completing the course. On successful completion, students will be certified by ITLS International as ITLS Instructors.
