All-New 2024 Self-Study Course

Enjoy up-to-date presentations on 72 leading-edge trauma, critical care, and acute care surgery topics when and where you want.

The 30th Annual USC National Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery Symposium self-study course offers a comprehensive experience, featuring cutting-edge lectures, high-caliber plenary sessions, interactive panel discussions, and inspiring keynote addresses by leaders in the fields of acute care surgery, trauma, and surgical critical care.

The course strikes a balance between evidence-based principles and innovative, thought-provoking discussions, brought to life through lively expert debates.

Each session is designed to deepen your understanding of the latest medical controversies while equipping you with practical procedural skills.

Screenshot of course on iPhone, iPad, and laptop with note: updates for the entire trauma center team

Presented by:

The Division of Acute Care Surgery

USC Office of Continuing Medical Education

Institute of Continuing Education for Nurses,

Department of Nursing

LAC+USC Medical Center

Sample Lectures

Buy the Self-Study Course

Experience the comprehensive self-study version of the 30th USC Trauma Surgery Symposium from the comforts of home.

  • The amalgamation of the latest literature combined with the experience of the front-line faculty results in clinically important, evidence-based presentations
  • Leading-edge topics and controversial clinical issues are the focus of the symposium
  • Panel discussions bring together the talents of acknowledged experts addressing the many challenges of emergency trauma care
  • 72 in-depth presentations focusing on high-yield information you can immediately incorporate into your practice
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Watch or Listen Instantly and Earn Up to 16.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™

72 Self-Study Topics, Including:

Immerse yourself in a diverse program covering key topics, blending the latest medical literature with the expertise of our front-line clinicians.

  • Prehospital Care: Whole Blood, Plasma, TXA or Scoop and Run?
  • Penetrating Traumatic Brain Injuries: Lessons Learned from the Battlefield
  • Keynote Lecture: Bringing Precision Medicine to Trauma Patients
  • Surgical Emergencies in the Pregnant Patient
  • Managing Short Gut and High Output Fistulas
  • Management of Rhabdomyolysis: Evidence-Based Guidelines
  • Donation After Cardiac Death: What’s Registry Got to Do With It?
  • Pharmacological Interventions in Septic Shock: Where Are We in 2024?
  • ECMO in Trauma: An Experimental Tool or the Standard of Care?
  • Proximal Protective Diverting Ostomy for Colon Resection and Anastomosis: Is It Really Protective?
  • Whole Blood for Trauma Resuscitation: Benefits, Risks, and Costs
  • REBOA in 2024: A Spectacular Failure in Trauma or a Life-Saving Tool?
  • Open Surgery vs. Endovascular Approach for Visceral Arterial Injuries
  • Pre-Injury Illicit Stimulant Use in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Does It Affect Outcome?
  • Beta Blockers in Severe Traumatic Brain Injuries: Should They Be in the Management Protocol?
  • Traumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Should Calcium Channel Blockers Be in the Management Protocol?
  • Thoracostomy Tube for Drainage of Hemothorax: Does the Size Matter?
  • Preventing Hospital Acquired Infections: Searching for the Silver Bullet!
  • Anesthesia Management in the Multi-Trauma Patient with Associated Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
  • The Establishment of Trauma Systems and Trauma Centers in China: Progress and Challenges
  • From the L.A. General Hospital to Estonia: Putting Together a National Trauma Program
  • Team Communication and Collaboration for a Healthy Work Environment
  • Non-Accidental Head Trauma of Infants
  • Splenic Repair or Splenectomy
  • Exposure of the Abdominal Aorta and Its Branches
  • Complete Duodenal Mobilization and Exposure
  • Bowel Resection and Hand-Sewn or Stapled Anastomosis
  • Fasciotomies of the Lower Leg
  • Skin Grafting: Technique, Tips and Pitfalls
  • Pursuing Excellence in the LA County Health System
  • VTE Prophylaxis After Blunt Solid Organ Injury: When and What?
  • Oral Antibiotics in Surgical Infections: Myths and Facts
  • Acute Cholecystitis in Pregnancy: Same Admission or Planned Post- Pregnancy Cholecystectomy?
  • Blunt Pancreatic Trauma: Operate or Observe?
  • And many more!
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Missed the 2023 or 2022 USC Trauma Surgery Symposium? Prior years are available for purchase.

Bundle and Save 25% Off! Add 2 or more self-study course years to your cart and save 25% off your USC Trauma Surgery Symposium course order.

Meet the Keynote Speakers

  • Eric Elster

    Eric Elster CAPT, MC, USN (Ret.)

    Dean, School of Medicine Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

    Eric Elster, MD, FACS, FRCSEng (Hon.), CAPT, MC, UNS (Ret.) is Dean of the School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. He serves as Executive Co-Chair of the Military Health System Strategic Partnership American College of Surgeons.

    Previously, Dr. Elster was the Chair and Norman M. Rich Professor of Surgery for the USU Department of Surgery and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He completed a general surgery residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

    During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dr. Elster served as ship’s surgeon aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, while stationed in the Persian Gulf. Subsequently, he completed a solid organ transplantation as well as transplant in General Surgery fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, where he directed a translational research program focused on the development of improved diagnostics and therapies for serious traumatic injuries, transplantation, and advanced operative imaging.

    Dr. Elster was last deployed as a surgeon and director of Surgical Services at the NATO Role 3 Military Medical Unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Dr. Elster has published over 200 scientific manuscripts in leading journals and has received numerous research grants across all aspects of surgery.

  • Kjell N. Lindgren

    Kjell N. Lindgren, MD

    Former Astronaut, NASA

    Dr. Kjell Lindgren is a physician-astronaut, residency trained in emergency and aerospace medicine. He was born in Taiwan, grew up in the UK and earned his undergraduate degree from the US Air Force Academy. He earned a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Colorado and trained in emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN.

    Dr. Lindgren joined NASA as a flight surgeon in 2007 and was subsequently selected into the Astronaut Corps in 2009. He is a veteran of two International Space Station missions. In 2015, he launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Russian Soyuz rocket to join Expeditions 44/45 on the ISS where he served as the Crew Medical Officer, executed more than a hundred different scientific experiments, and conducted two spacewalks.

    In 2022, Dr. Lindgren served as Commander of the SpaceX Crew-4 Dragon mission to the ISS, to join Expedition 67. He has spent a cumulative 311 days in low earth orbit. Dr. Lindgren currently serves as the Deputy Director of NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate.

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“My knowledge has been reinforced and I can continue to educate my patients with info about the standards of care.”

— Course Participant

“This was a great symposium of trauma lectures and updates on management of trauma patient and surgical emergencies.”

— Course Participant

“Very good review of trauma and its treatment. I liked the short brief presentations.”

— Course Participant

“Gives me sound perspective from the evidence based research presented on the various topics.”

— Course Participant

“Multiple presentations offered new ideas and processes we could implement within our institution.”

— Course Participant

“Excellent. Would definitely try to attend in person, but if unable to, then would consider purchasing the conference again.”

— Course Participant