International Trauma Life Support

MOCEP is an advocate of International Trauma Life Support (ITLS), a global organization dedicated to preventing death and disability from trauma through education and emergency care. ITLS educates emergency personnel to provide optimal care for the trauma patient.


Created for Better Care Provision

International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) was founded in the early 1980’s as Basic Trauma Life Support. From its early roots as a local and regional trauma education course for EMS professionals, BTLS grew to have over 75 chapters around the world. In 2005, BTLS became ITLS to better reflect the scope of the organization.

ITLS was developed from the need for EMS training improvement for all involved in emergency patient management care. The goal is to enhance patient care, decrease death rates from trauma and cardiac related problems, and improve communication between members of the emergency healthcare communities.

Comprehensive Education

A variety of comprehensive education programs are available to meet the requirements of all levels and backgrounds of pre-hospital emergency personnel internationally, including ITLS Basic, Advanced, Access, Military, and Pediatric courses. The ITLS course is designed to teach physicians, paramedics, flight nurses, emergency nurses, physicians and all levels of EMTs and First Responders a systematic and orderly approach to treating trauma patients.

To find a course in Missouri near you, please go to the itrauma.org site.

ITLS Notice: Increase in Missouri ITLS Chapter Fee on October 1, 2019

The Missouri ITLS Chapter fee is increasing on October 1, 2019 to $17. This fee is charged for all students who take an ITLS course, pass or fail. The International ITLS fee is $17 per student, so the total fees paid per student per course will be $34. All new Instructor certifications and Instructor re-certifications continue to be exempt from both the Missouri and International fees.

Missouri ITLS has not increased its fees in nearly 10 years. The $5 increase was approved by the MOCEP Board of Directors to help offset the increasing costs of maintaining the Missouri ITLS program.

Missouri ITLS invoices will reflect the $34 rate beginning October 1, 2019. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Luebbert, MOCEP Executive Director, at 573-636-2144 or sarah@mocep.org.


COVID-19 Updates

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, ITLS national relaxed its guidelines regarding expiration of certification.  Providers whose cards expired in earlier months were granted an extension through June 30, 2020.

There will be no further extension for provider cards beyond June 30, 2020.  After that date, providers seeking re-certification will be able to use the alternate pathways described on the chart provided here.  This includes the rapid renewal online course option.

Those seeking initial ITLS provider courses can follow the alternate pathway as seen in the chart linked above.

ITLS has provided a guide to conducting ITLS courses remotely during the pandemic.  Click here to view the guide.

Please note:
1. The Written Exam will not be administered during the pandemic period due to exam security concerns.
2. The Patient Assessment Practical Exam will be conducted live via videoconference and will focus on the performance of the Rapid Trauma Survey and the Reassessment Exam.