President's Message

Christine Gaarder, MD
past President IATSIC

As President of the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC), I welcome you to our website and I hope that you will find what you are looking for here and that you will consider joining us in our effort to improve trauma care worldwide.

 

IATSIC is a collective member society within the broader International Society of Surgery (ISS/SIC). IATSIC was established in 1989 and has grown and developed into the most important international professional association in its field. Its membership comprises trauma surgeons, emergency surgeons, acute-care surgeons, anaesthesiologists and intensivists from every corner of the world. Practically, any medical doctor, who is a member of ISS/SIC, with an interest in trauma care is eligible to apply for our membership.

 

IATSIC has since the start been engaged in trauma education both in low- middle and high income countries through its successful NTMC and DSTC programs, with the more recent addition of DATC, pushing the society in the directionof more multidisciplinary cooperation. IATSIC is contributing heavily in advocacy in trauma internationally through strong links with WHO. Communication occurs via our biannual meetings during the World Congress of Surgery (WCS), through articles published in the World Journal of Surgery, and through our website.  Such communication is intended to allow exchange of information and experience among the specialties represented in our target audience, across geopolitical and socioeconomic borders, and between generations.
 
The last IATSIC meeting was held in August, 2017, in Basel, Switzerland. The next World Congress of Surgery, again with a full four-day IATSIC program, will be in Kraków, Poland, in 2019. These meetings cover the full spectrum of trauma and critical care with top speakers and lively discussions.
The World Journal of Surgery, published by ISS, includes material from IATSIC as a collective member society in the form of academic publications.


The IATSIC website, which you are currently visiting, is designed for clarity and easy navigation. We welcome your feedback. Please check here regularly for the newest information on the WCS/IATSIC meeting in 2015 as it becomes available.

 

Education is provided by IATSIC through the media mentioned above, and most importantly, in the form of the National Trauma Management Course (NTMC) ,  Definitive Surgical Trauma Care (DSTC) and Definitive Anaesthetic Trauma Care (DATC) courses offered regularly throughout the world. These courses must fulfill stringent requirements for accreditation and are taught by internationally recognized experts. In these courses, younger participants can familiarize themselves with initial trauma care and emergency surgery and more senior surgeons can update their skills and level of information to the highest standard. During the years to come, the aim of the society will include broadning the scope of our educational programs to include disaster preparedness.

 

Advocacy. In collaboration with the World Health Organization and surgeons and other trauma care clinicians from every continent, IATSIC has created several publications that give details on minimum standards that should exist for trauma care services and for the related human resources (skills, training, staffing), physical resources (equipment, supplies, infrastructure), and administrative mechanisms to assure quality at the range of hospitals in countries at all economic levels.  These include: Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care and Guidelines for Trauma Quality Improvement Programmes. IATSIC is also one of the core founder members of WHO Global Alliance for the Care of the Injured (GACI).


In the future, IATSIC will explore how to contribute globally in a better way, including cooperation with relevant humanitarian organizations, and hopefully through research and evaluation.

 

If you are interested in becoming a member of IATSIC, you are welcome to apply online. If you have any problems, contact by e-mail any of the officers or committee chairs listed on the website, who will be glad to assist you with the application process and/or answer any questions about membership.

 

What are your advantages as a member of IATSIC?
 

  • Automatic subscription to the highly regarded World Journal of Surgery

  • Reduced registration fees for meetings, courses and events

  • Comradery and facilitation of contacts with colleagues in your field

  • Participation in global advocacy efforts for promotion of trauma care worldwide

 

The physicians who make up IATSIC's membership devote their professional lives fully or partially to the care of patients who are injured or critically ill due to trauma, war, or natural or man-made disasters. Whether your relevant interests lie more in research, teaching or practice, or some combination, please support us, or continue to support us, in putting forward our important work on behalf of our patients.

 

Tina Gaarder, MD

President IATSIC

 

 

Committee
Find out how to contact the IATSIC Committee.....

Constitution
View the IATSIC Constitution.....