Our Mission

The purpose of these educational programs is to improve performance in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine.

We take the intimidation out of high risk, low frequency procedures using hands-on classes with individual coaching. Our focus is on performance and we achieve results by teaching fundamental skills and making them seem uncomplicated.

Our courses were initially developed in 1994 at the request of Maine physicians and critical care transport providers who needed to improve their skills, particularly emergency airway and trauma management skills. CCTA developed a unique, humane training program using fresh sheep cadavers, and our education modules have evolved to become effective labs that provide instruction and real-world simulation that allow students to master skills that actually translate to clinical practice. The results speak for themselves, and the program continues to grow after 28 years of ongoing development and improvement.

As an example of the effectiveness of our training programs, since 1998 all LifeFlight of Maine (LOM) providers have been required to participate in CCTA labs on an annual basis.  The results have been dramatic.  Over the past 15 years, LOM has had 99-100% success rates in their emergency airway interventions.  These include even the most difficult patients under the most difficult circumstances. These results speak clearly to the effectiveness of CCTA programs, and to the need to expand their availability not only throughout Maine, but also to physicians and critical care providers in other states.