GRITT – Guided Resuscitation Interventions for Trauma Teams

Course Overview

Welcome to the Guided Resuscitation Intervention for Trauma Teams (GRITT)

This programme is designed for the people who stand at the sharp end of trauma care — whether you’re on the roadside, in an emergency unit, at the operating table, or within an ICU. GRITT exists to support clinicians who face the reality of saving lives when minutes and even seconds matter.

Purpose of the course

GRITT prepares healthcare providers in hospitals and clinics to rapidly recognise and manage the critically ill trauma or acute surgical patient whose life is under immediate threat. The course emphasises practical, team-driven approaches that apply equally in well-resourced trauma centres and in environments where equipment and staff are limited. Alongside trauma, there is an extensive focus on acute care surgical (ACS) emergencies — ensuring teams are equipped to stabilise, prioritise, and escalate both injured and non-trauma surgical patients.

Focus areas

1. Building leadership and teamwork skills alongside clinical decision-making.
2. Applying systems thinking: patient safety, error reduction, and human factors are embedded in the training.
3. Developing confidence to coordinate care for major trauma while still performing critical interventions yourself.

Who it is for

This course deliberately bridges the divide between clinicians with advanced postgraduate trauma training and those who have learned primarily through experience. It is particularly valuable in facilities where trauma training would help but is not accessible or feasible. GRITT translates established trauma principles into real-world, team-based practice.

How it is taught

Training is delivered to whole teams within their own working environment — be it an emergency centre, a district hospital ward, or an ambulance crew base. The preferred format is in-situ simulation, which allows participants to rehearse skills and coordination in the exact context where they normally work.

Positioning of GRITT

GRITT provides a parallel pathway tailored to the South African and broader African context, emphasising team performance and contextual problem-solving. The course enables advanced providers and mixed-skill teams to integrate trauma knowledge into daily practice and to operate as cohesive units under pressure.

Speak a common trauma language 

All members of the trauma system should speak a common language – from the roadside to the resus bay — to ensure continuity, reduce errors, and improve patient outcomes.

Close the “implementation gap.” 

Turn best evidence into day-to-day habits that save lives by ensuring theory is translated into practical, day-to-day habits. Embedding these evidence-based practices into routine workflows helps teams act consistently under pressure, reduces variability in care, and ultimately saves lives.

Strengthen every link in the trauma network

Ensure no patient is left without the right care at the right time. Trauma care is a team sport, and you’re now part of a continent-wide community committed to raising the bar for every injured patient who walks, or is wheeled, through our doors. Dive in, challenge assumptions, and bring your whole self to the learning. We can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish together.

– The GRITT Faculty & EPIC EM Team