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Trauma care taken to the next level

Trauma Care is changing all the time and many situations require specialist trauma expertise. The Definitive Surgical and Anaesthetic Trauma Care course (DSATC) is designed to educate the relatively fully trained anaesthesiologist, intensivist, surgeon as well as the advanced specialist trainee in strategic thinking and decision making in the management of the severely injured patients. It also provides them with practical surgical skills for the management of major organ injuries. During the course anaesthesiologists assisted by registered anaesthesia nurses and surgeons assisted by OR nurses work together as real trauma teams.

 

General Information about the DSATC Foundation-NL:

The DSATC Foundation-NL is a non-profit, officially  recognized, independent, educational organization. It offers courses under the supervision of the IATSIC, the NVT, and the CRKBO. It works in close collaboration with Radboudumc (Radboud Health Academy (RHA), which facilitates practical aspects for the Foundation. It works closely with Dutch Ministry of Defence (IDR), the NVA, the NOV as well as other medical-professional and medical-technical organizations. The Foundations procedures and organization has been validated by the CRKBO and have been approved, most recently in 2025. Websites are www.dsatc.eu and previously www.dstc-datc.nl or www.dsatc.nl

 

Contact: Secretariaat DSATC Foundation-NL, t.a.v. Dhr. Serge van Sassen, which has its offices within the Radboud Health Academy, huispost 51, Gerard van Swietenlaan 2, 6525 GB Nijmegen. E: dsatc@radboudumc.nl

Staff include: Serge van Sassen, manager; Emmy van Bommel, educational specialist; Marc Cornelissen; Judith van Werven-Nobel; Robert Kuster.

 

All queries concerning educational or administrative matters may be directed to the above and a reply will be forthcoming within seven workdays. Currently, the Foundation offers as courses a) the DSATC 2 day course + on-line webinar, b) the half-day Hemostasis course for Residents, and c) the 2-day ASSET course.

 

The DSATC in context

The Definitive Surgical Trauma Care Course (DSTC) is developed under the auspices of the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC). The first Dutch DSTC course took place in 2001. The initiative to design a combined course with anaesthesiologist and intensivists (DATC) was taken by the Dutch DSTC Board and in 2015 it received its official recognition from the IATSIC to form the DSATC. The DSATC is currently the most advanced trauma course available internationally, offering a blended learning environment with e-learning, lectures, and three different interactive workshops. The Dutch course is organized under the auspices of the Dutch Trauma Society (NVT).

 

The DSATC is an intensive 2-day course that consists of keynote lecturers, multidisciplinary case presentations, fireside case discussions and workshops. In total it requires some 30 hours of preparation, participation in the webinar as well as in the two day physical course for completion. The course includes an online seminar (ca. 2 hours) supporting the e-learning and the two (ca. 10 hours each) days. Candidates should realize that the independent, online, learning modules have candidate-profession “required” as well as “in depth” topics. Candidates should be aware that the DSATC Educational Committee estimates that for the physicians at least six hours may be needed for the “required” topics and a further six for the “in depth” topics. For the nurses this is circa five hours for the “required” topics. 

The online environment is accessible after registration and for one year after the course itself. Selected additional reading (i.e. the book “Top Knife”)  may be purchased online by candidates at their own discretion.

 

The DSATC is a “master level” course. It is open to (senior) Residents, Medical Specialists, (senior) anaesthesia nurses and (senior) scrub nurses, all of whom should have professional registration. Some experience with emergent situations is recommended, but there are no other formalized application requirements. It offers generalizable knowledge and skills for each group, usable in, but also far beyond, the trauma setting, and also applicable in a wide range of surgical settings with potential for hemodynamic, pulmonary, and abdominal complications. The course certificate is required for registration as a trauma orthopod or trauma surgeon.

Candidates will receive their “certificates of completion” by email after participation in the whole course (online pre-course webinar and live 2 days) and after completion of the on-line evaluation form. There is no summative assessment during the course. Accreditation for CME will be received from the relevant organizations.

 

The DSATC course focuses on:

• Surgical and anesthesiologic decision making and techniques in complex scenarios
• Operative techniques in critically ill trauma patients
• Hands-on practical experience with experienced instructors (both national and international)
• Insight and skills in difficult trauma situations by offering techniques for hemorrhage control and the ability to handle major thoracic, cardiac and abdominal injuries
• Animal laboratory based surgical skills training. It boasts a high faculty to participant ratio with the faculty consisting of experienced trauma trained surgeons and anesthesiologists.
• Multidisciplinary team approach.

 

This is achieved by a plenary session, a cadaver lab session, a living tissue lab session and a “best practice” session with scenario training/CRM for the anesthesiology and a fix-ex session for the surgical candidates.

The DSATC course includes an on-line webinar (ca. 2 hours) and two full days (ca. 10 hours each), a minimum of 5-6 hours in the e-learning environment for the required reading, and excluding the plenary course dinner evening networking session (ca. 3 hours).

The course language is English. However, if during a specific activity there are only Dutch speakers, Dutch may be used. Note that faculty members may be English speaking only.

Aftermovie

Click on the image below to watch the aftermovie of last years course!

Aftermovie DSATC 205.mp4