The program has been adopted worldwide in over 60 countries,[2] sometimes under the name of Early Management of Severe Trauma, especially outside North America.

Originally designed for emergency situations where only one doctor and one nurse are present, ATLS is now widely accepted as the standard of care for initial assessment and treatment in trauma centers.

It also advocates that the lack of a definitive diagnosis and a detailed history should not slow the application of indicated treatment for life-threatening injury, with the most time-critical interventions performed early.

[2] The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma has taught the ATLS course to over 1 million doctors in more than 80 countries.

If the airway is blocked (e.g., by blood or vomit), the fluid must be cleaned out of the patient's mouth by the help of suctioning instruments.

The Glasgow Coma Scale is a quick method to determine the level of consciousness, and is predictive of patient outcome.

An altered level of consciousness indicates the need for immediate reevaluation of the patient's oxygenation, ventilation, and perfusion status.

[7] Mannequin surgical simulators are widely used in the United States as alternatives to the use of live animals in ATLS courses.

[10] ATLS has its origins in the United States in 1976, when James K. Styner, an orthopedic surgeon piloting a light aircraft, crashed his plane into a field in Nebraska.

His wife Charlene was killed instantly and three of his four children, Ken, Randy, and Kim sustained critical injuries.

Styner had to flag down a car to transport him to the nearest hospital in Hebron; upon arrival, he found it closed.

"[12] Upon returning to work, he set about developing a system for saving lives in medical trauma situations.

Styner and his colleague Paul 'Skip' Collicott, with assistance from advanced cardiac life support personnel and the Lincoln Medical Education Foundation, produced the initial ATLS course which was held in 1978.

In 1980, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma adopted ATLS and began US and international dissemination of the course.

[12] Since its inception, ATLS has become the standard for trauma care in American emergency departments and advanced paramedical services.

The International Trauma Life Support committee publishes the ITLS-Basic and ITLS-Advanced courses for prehospital professionals as well.