Search

The requirements and challenges for the university hospitals in Germany are changing. Especially in surgical subjects, it is more and more difficult to adequately serve these three pillars of university medicine - clinic, research and education. This survey was intended to determine the status quo of general and visceral surgery at universities, in order to provide a basis for proposed solutions.For this online survey, 1505 visceral surgeons at the 38 university clinics were contacted. The questionnaire contained 29 questions on the structure of the clinic, scientific motivation, opportunities for time-off and the appreciation of academic achievements. The type and scope of student courses and the preparation for them were also determined. With regard to patient care, the type and number of services and the course of surgical training were examined. Based on the data published on the websites of the individual clinics on the number, gender, position and academic title of the doctors, a demographic analysis of university visceral surgeons could also be created.Of 1505 surgeons successfully contacted, 352 took part in the survey, which corresponds to a response rate of 23.4%. Of the participants, 93.5% were scientifically active, the majority being in the field of clinical data collection. Many indicated that they were also active in translational and/or experimental research, while educational research was rarely named. 45% confirmed that they could perform scientific work during their normal working hours. The reward for this activity was mostly in the form of time-off for congresses and clinical appreciation. Most participants stated that they were involved in 3-4 student courses per week, with 24.4% reporting that they were not adequately prepared for them.The compatibility of the classic three pillars of clinic, research and teaching continues to be of great relevance. There is a high level of motivation among the participating visceral surgeons not to neglect research and teaching, despite increasing economic pressure in the field of patient care. However, arrangements must be created in order to reward and promote commitment in research and teaching in a structured way., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Practice makes perfect - a saying that everyone has certainly heard. Surgeons of all levels of training can demonstrably practice to some extent on simulators. This training outside the operating theatre and independent of patients makes sense, both ethically and financially. Although the effectiveness of simulation in surgery has been proven several times, simulation training is not a mandatory part of surgical specialist training in Germany. Simulation covers a very wide range in terms of application, effort and costs. This review is intended to give an overview of the systems and their areas of application and the target group. The focus lies on the commonly available systems and possible advantages and disadvantages. Practical skills are in the foreground and all three pillars of general and visceral surgery - conventional techniques, laparoscopy and robotics - are taken into account. However, simulators alone do not achieve cost-benefit effectiveness. The full potential of such an investment can only be exploited with a site-specific, structured training concept in which simulation training according to the post-graduate year and appropriate allocation to surgeries in the operating room are closely interlinked. It should always be possible to train basic skills on site. The significant additional costs for complex simulation systems are possible, depending on the financial resources, or should be purchased in a network or for national courses. The techniques of immersive virtual reality in combination with artificial intelligence and deformation algorithms will certainly play a decisive role for the future of simulation, whereby the use of the available systems must be a primary goal. The integration of simulation into specialist training should be striven for, not least in order to justify the costs., Competing Interests: Tobias Huber has a non financial research cooperation regarding simulation in laparoscopic camera navigation with Surgical Science Sweden. Tobias Huber receives funding from BMBF, DFG, UM Mainz, Liver Foundation, Gutenberg Lehrkolleg Mainz, Alexander Karl Stiftung Mainz. Florentine Hüttl receives funding from the German Society of Surgery. Peter Grimminger is a Proctor for Intuitive Surgical. Hauke Lang, Laura Hanke, Lukas Vradelis and Nils Sommer declare no conflict of interest. Shown Simulators have been supported by intramural educational funding of the university medical center Mainz and Alexander Karl-Stiftung, Mainz, Germany., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Complications following the creation of permanent intestinal ostomies are common and lead to serious problems in the stoma care of affected patients. The aim of this prospective, single-centre follow-up study was to record the rate of late complications in our own patient group and to identify potential risk factors., Methods: All patients who received a permanent intestinal ostomy in our clinic within the period 2006 - 2016 were included in the study. 50 patients gave their informed consent and participated in our follow-up (14 female [28%], 36 male [72%]). The analysis of stoma-associated complications was performed by review of medical records and a systematic follow-up (standardised questionnaire, clinical examination, and ultrasound of the abdominal wall)., Results: Indications included malignancy (n = 27; 54%), anastomotic leakage (n = 10; 20%), acute diverticulitis (n = 7; 14%), IBD (n = 5; 10%) and rarer indications. The top 3 late complications were peristomal skin irritation (n = 25, 50%), parastomal hernia (n = 14; 28%) and prolapse (n = 9; 18%). Acute diverticulitis resulted in increased stomal retraction (p = 0.012). Double-barreled stomata were associated with increased herniation rates (p = 0.044) and prolapse (p = 0.047). Ileostomies were associated with peristomal skin irritation (p = 0.021). Age, sex or emergency stoma creation did not constitute independent risk factors for the development of late complications in our group of patients., Conclusion: Professional pre- and postoperative stoma therapy and care includes preoperative marking of a stoma site and structured stoma-specific follow-up by stoma therapists, surgeons and general practitioners, as well as stringent and early treatment of structural complications. This can prevent and mitigate late complications of permanent intestinal stomata. Interestingly, stoma placement was not an independent risk factor for late complications in an emergency situation., Competing Interests: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)