Gustavo P. Fraga, associate professor of the Department of Surgery, chief of the Division of Trauma Surgery (DCT) of the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) of University of Campinas (Unicamp), participated from September 28th to 30th as instructor in the first Definitive Surgical Trauma Care (DSTC) course organized in Middle East, in Doha, Qatar. This course has been planned since 2019 but was postponed two times because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The DSTC was organized combined with Definitive Anesthesia Trauma Care (DATC), receiving 16 surgeons candidates, and 8 anesthetists candidates, under the auspices of the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC).

The course was held at Itqan Clinical Simulation and Innovation Center, one of the world’s largest simulation centers with 12,000 m2, and was organized by Sandro Rizoli, former student and resident of SMS Unicamp, and director of the Trauma and Emergency Center at Doha, Qatar; by Ruben Peralta, professor and director of Trauma, Emergency and Surgery Critical Care Fellowship Program at Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Doha, and visiting professor of Undergraduate Studies Office (PRG) at Unicamp in 2020; and Hassan Al Thani, Head of Trauma and Vascular Surgery.

The course coordinator were Tarek Razek, from McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada, and the others instructors were Anders Holtan (Consultant Anaesthesiologist Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, who participated online), Kjersti Baksaas-Aasen (Anesthesiologist, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway), Carlos Mesquita (General & Emergency Surgeon, Clínica de Montes Claros, Coimbra, Portugal), and Nabil Shallik (Senior Consultant Anesthesiologist, Doha, Qatar, who participated online).

The DSTCTM Course was originally designed for surgeons and surgical trainees, by surgeons. More recently, a component of care relevant to anaesthesiologists has been developed by anaesthesiologists and integrated into DTSC. The DATCTM course has been designed to train anaesthesiologists and intensivists in resuscitation skills as well as get an intimate acquaintance with the surgical aspects of a severe trauma patient. The DATCTM is always taught together with the DSTCTM with an integration ratio of at least 75% both in theoretical and in practical work. This allows a more realistic experience for the entire team and provides the opportunity for anaesthesiologists to learn technical and resuscitation skills as well.