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Reinhard Strametz,1,* Hannah Roesner,1,2,* Thomas Neusius,1,* Isabell Wiesenhuetter,1 Stefan Bushuven,3,4 José Joaquín Mira,2,5 Dominik Hinzmann,6 Susanne Heininger7 1Wiesbaden Institute for Healthcare Economics and Patient Safety, RheinMain UAS, Wiesbaden, Germany; 2Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Elche, Spain; 3Training Center for Emergency Medicine (NOTIS e.V), Engen, 78234, Germany; 4Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79106, Germany; 5Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO), Alicante, Spain; 6Department Clinical Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; 7Faculty for Applied Healthcare Sciences, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Deggendorf, Germany*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Reinhard Strametz, Wiesbaden Institute for Healthcare Economics and Patient Safety, RheinMain UAS, Bleichstr. 3, Wiesbaden, 65183, Germany, Email reinhard.strametz@hs-rm.dePurpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether the nationwide establishment and institutionalization of a peer-support program, is economically justified given the potential positive effects on the Second Victim Phenomenon (SVP) among healthcare professionals in Germany.Methods: A comprehensive methodological approach was employed, using data from the SeViD studies to assess the prevalence and duration of SVP among physicians and nurses in Germany. Economic impact assessments were conducted to estimate the potential cost savings associated with implementing a peer-support program.Results: The economic analysis reveals significant annual costs associated with SVP-induced absenteeism: approximately 1.56 billion euros for physicians and 1.87 billion euros for nurses. Implementing comprehensive peer-support programs could reduce these costs to approximately 0.85 billion (physicians) and 1.02 billion euros (nurses), respectively, demonstrating substantial potential economic benefits.Conclusion: Investing in a structured peer-support program could yield annual savings exceeding 1.55 billion euros while enhancing workforce resilience and improving patient care. This underscores the economic rationale for scaling up peer support initiatives in healthcare settings.Keywords: peer support program, economic impact, second victim phenomenon, healthcare professionals

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Background: Occupational stress among emergency medical staff remains a central problem. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies were focused on the working conditions of clinical emergency staff, but few examined the occupational stress profiles of prehospital emergency dispatchers (ED). The aim of this study is therefore to provide baseline data on the differences in occupational stress profiles between prehospital and clinical emergency medical staff., Methods: ED, emergency nurses (EN), and trauma surgeons on duty (TS) were questioned using the established and validated standardized short version of the instrument for stress-related job analysis for hospital physicians (ISAK-K). Differences between occupational groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test., Results: Our data indicate significant differences in perception of stressors between professional groups ( p  < 0.05), with ED showing the highest psychological stress, followed by EN. Social stressors and emotional dissonance were significantly higher in ED and EN compared to TS ( p  < 0.05). Time pressure was identified as major stressor for ED and TS, but not for EN ( p  < 0.01). All professions showed moderate high levels of uncertainty and frustration ( p  = n.s.). Support from colleagues and supervisors was the greatest positive resource for all professional groups ( p  = n.s.)., Conclusion: In accordance with current literature, our results advocate for a re-evaluation of the identified stressors, as ED, EN, and TS continue to show high levels of occupational stress. Training programs for coping with emotional dissonance and social stressors are likely to be crucial for reducing job stress among ED and EN., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Meyer, Chiapponi, von Kaufmann, Kanz and Hinzmann.)

Background: IVENA eHealth (IVENA, interdisziplinärer Versorgungsnachweis, mainis IT-Service GmbH, Offenbach am Main, Germany) supports the coordination of emergency admissions by providing real-time data on treatment options in hospitals. Overload or technical problems can lead to hospitals having to temporarily deregister parts or the entire emergency department, which can lead to acute admissions. The COVID-19 pandemic may have further exacerbated the situation, which was analyzed as part of this study., Methods: This descriptive analysis used the IVENA eHealth information technology (IT) system to examine the occupancy and acute occupancy figures in the Munich ambulance service area from 2016-2022. Particular attention was paid to inpatient (SC II) and shock room + admissions in the specialties of internal medicine, neurology, trauma surgery and urology, as well as the development of acute occupancies, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic., Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of patients in the surveyed specialist areas fell by 23.7% (2021: -15% and 2022: -11% compared to 2019). The proportion of acute admissions fell in 2020 compared to 2019 (5.9% acute admissions vs. 6.8%) and rose disproportionately in 2021 (7.7% vs. 6.8%) and 2022 (24.9% vs. 6.8%)., Conclusion: There are many reasons for the increase in acute admissions, including the increase in inpatient admissions, the bottleneck in transferring patients (exit block) and the shortage of staff in the healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated some of these problems, which could explain the increase in acute admissions. A combination of different solutions is now needed to ensure adequate emergency care., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Monitoring the electroencephalogram (EEG) during general anesthesia can help to safely navigate the patient through the procedure by avoiding too deep or light anesthetic levels. In daily clinical practice, the EEG is recorded from the forehead and available neuromonitoring systems translate the EEG information into an index inversely correlating with the anesthetic level. Electrode placement on the forehead can lead to an influence of electromyographic (EMG) activity on the recorded signal in patients without neuromuscular blockade (NMB). A separation of EEG and EMG in the clinical setting is difficult because both signals share an overlapping frequency range. Previous research showed that indices decreased when EMG was absent in awake volunteers with NMB. Here, we investigated to what extent the indices changed, when EEG recorded during surgery with NMB agents was superimposed with EMG., Methods: We recorded EMG from the flexor muscles of the forearm of 18 healthy volunteers with a CONOX monitor during different activity settings, that is, during contraction using a grip strengthener and during active diversion (relaxed arm). Both the forehead and forearm muscles are striated muscles. The recorded EMG was normalized by z -scoring and added to the EEG in different amplification steps. The EEG was recorded during anesthesia with NMB. We replayed these combined EEG and EMG signals to different neuromonitoring systems, that is, bispectral index (BIS), CONOX with qCON and qNOX, and entropy module with state entropy (SE) and response entropy (RE). We used the Friedman test and a Tukey-Kramer post hoc correction for statistical analysis., Results: The indices of all neuromonitoring systems significantly increased when the EEG was superimposed with the contraction EMG and with high EMG amplitudes, the monitors returned invalid values, representative of artifact contamination. When replaying the EEG being superimposed with "relaxed" EMG, the qCON and BIS showed significant increases, but not SE and RE. For SE and RE, we observed an increased number of invalid values., Conclusions: With our approach, we could show that EMG activity during contraction and resting state can influence the neuromonitoring systems. This knowledge may help to improve EEG-based patient monitoring in the future and help the anesthesiologist to use the neuromonitoring systems with more knowledge regarding their function., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 International Anesthesia Research Society.)

Background: Likewise work experience, heart rate variability (HRV) has repeatedly been correlated with improved performance under real life and simulator conditions. Using HRV as a correlate of workload, it is meaningful to assess the impact of work experience. To understand the impact of work experience on HRV metrics, we examined differences in HRV among experts and beginners during simulated endovascular neuroradiological procedures., Methods: Six inexperienced radiologists (beginners) and five experts in neurological endovascular intervention each performed 10 diagnostic angiographies on a Vascular Interventional System Trainer (VIST) simulator (Mentice AB, SW). Beyond total time, fluoroscopy time, and amount of contrast medium used, heart rate variability and the NASA-task load index were gathered as correlates of workload. The t-Test for independent samples as well as Mann-Whitney-U tests were applied for group-wise comparison between beginners and experts. Multivariate regression was used to assess the influence of age and expert status., Results: Ten participants completed all scenarios; one participant only completed the first five scenarios. Accordingly, 105 simulations were analyzed (beginners N = 60; experts N = 45, respectively). The heart rate variability of experts and beginners significantly differed in three time domain HRV metrics (decreased RMSSD, NN50, pNN50 in experts; all p < 0.05) as well as with respect to its distribution in the frequency spectrum (LF/HF ratio; p < 0.001, increased high frequency components in experts)., Conclusions: The HRV of beginners and expert neurointerventionalists significantly differed during simulated endovascular neuroradiological procedures. Experts presented decreased HRV, this could be a cardiovascular surrogate to the effort the subjects expend on their performance. It is in line with previous studies on vagal influences on the heart and cognitive-executive performance., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Intraoperative alpha-band power in frontal electrodes may provide helpful information about the balance of hypnosis and analgesia and has been associated with reduced occurrence of delirium in the postanesthesia care unit. Recent studies suggest that narrow-band power computations from neural power spectra can benefit from separating periodic and aperiodic components of the electroencephalogram. This study investigates whether such techniques are more useful in separating patients with and without delirium in the postanesthesia care unit at the group level as opposed to conventional power spectra., Methods: Intraoperative electroencephalography recordings of 32 patients who developed perioperative neurocognitive disorders and 137 patients who did not were considered in this post hoc secondary analysis. The power spectra were calculated using conventional methods and the "fitting oscillations and one over f" algorithm was applied to separate aperiodic and periodic components to see whether the electroencephalography signature is different between groups., Results: At the group level, patients who did not develop perioperative neurocognitive disorders presented with significantly higher alpha-band power and a broadband increase in power, allowing a "fair" separation based on conventional power spectra. Within the first third of emergence, the difference in median absolute alpha-band power amounted to 8.53 decibels (area under the receiver operator characteristics curve, 0.74 [0.65; 0.82]), reaching its highest value. In relative terms, the best separation was achieved in the second third of emergence, with a difference in medians of 7.71% (area under the receiver operator characteristics curve, 0.70 [0.61; 0.79]). The area under the receiver operator characteristics curve values were generally lower toward the end of emergence with increasing arousal., Conclusions: Increased alpha-band power during emergence in patients who did not develop perioperative neurocognitive disorders can be traced back to an increase in oscillatory alpha activity and an overall increase in aperiodic broadband power. Although the differences between patients with and without perioperative neurocognitive disorders can be detected relying on traditional methods, the separation of the signal allows a more detailed analysis. This may enable clinicians to detect patients at risk for developing perioperative neurocognitive disorders in the postanesthesia care unit early in the emergence phase., (Copyright © 2023 American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.)

Background: Processed electroencephalography (EEG) is used to monitor the level of anesthesia, and it has shown the potential to predict the occurrence of delirium. While emergence trajectories of relative EEG band power identified post hoc show promising results in predicting a risk for a delirium, they are not easily transferable into an online predictive application. This article describes a low-resource and easily applicable method to differentiate between patients at high risk and low risk for delirium, with patients at low risk expected to show decreasing EEG power during emergence., Methods: This study includes data from 169 patients (median age, 61 yr [49, 73]) who underwent surgery with general anesthesia maintained with propofol, sevoflurane, or desflurane. The data were derived from a previously published study. The investigators chose a single frontal channel, calculated the total and spectral band power from the EEG and calculated a linear regression model to observe the parameters' change during anesthesia emergence, described as slope. The slope of total power and single band power was correlated with the occurrence of delirium., Results: Of 169 patients, 32 (19%) showed delirium. Patients whose total EEG power diminished the most during emergence were less likely to screen positive for delirium in the postanesthesia care unit. A positive slope in total power and band power evaluated by using a regression model was associated with a higher risk ratio (total, 2.83 [95% CI, 1.46 to 5.51]; alpha/beta band, 7.79 [95% CI, 2.24 to 27.09]) for delirium. Furthermore, a negative slope in multiple bands during emergence was specific for patients without delirium and allowed definition of a test for patients at low risk., Conclusions: This study developed an easily applicable exploratory method to analyze a single frontal EEG channel and to identify patterns specific for patients at low risk for delirium., (Copyright © 2023 American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.)

Introduction: Since the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020, inpatient healthcare has been under enormous burden, which is reflected especially in overworked staff, imprecise bed planning and/or data transfer. According to the recommendation of the Science Council, university clinics should play a controlling role in regional healthcare and act in conjunction with surrounding hospitals and practices., Methods: In September 2021, 31 representatives from 18 university hospitals were invited to a hybrid Delphi study with a total of 4 survey rounds to discuss criteria for effective inpatient care in a pandemic situation, which were extracted from previous expert interviews. Criteria that were classified as very important/relevant by≥75% of the participants in the first round of the survey (consensus definition) were then further summarized in 4 different small groups. In a third Delphi round, all participants came together again to discuss the results of the small group discussions. Subsequently, these were prioritized as Optional ("can"), Desirable ("should") or Necessary ("must") recommendations., Results: Of the invited clinical experts, 21 (67.7%) participated in at least one Delphi round. In an online survey (1st Delphi round), 233 criteria were agreed upon and reduced to 84 criteria for future pandemic management in four thematic small group discussions (2nd Delphi round) and divided into the small groups as follows: "Crisis Management and Crisis Plans" (n=20), "Human Resources Management and Internal Communication" (n=16), "Regional Integration and External Communication" (n=24) and "Capacity Management and Case & Care" (n=24). In the following group discussion (3rd Delphi round), the criteria were further modified and agreed upon by the experts, so that in the end result, there were 23 essential requirements and recommendations for effective inpatient care in a pandemic situation., Conclusion: The results draw attention to key demands of clinical representatives, for example, comprehensive digitization, standardization of processes and better (supra) regional networking in order to be able to guarantee needs-based care even under pandemic conditions. The present consensus recommendations can serve as guidelines for future pandemic management in the inpatient care sector., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: Dying in simulation training is controversially discussed. On the one hand, the danger of an emotional overload of the learners is pointed out. On the other hand, dying in simulation settings is addressed as an opportunity to prepare future health professionals to deal with patient death. The present study investigates how medical students and nursing trainees experience the sudden death of a simulated patient and how and under which conditions it can be valuable to simulate the patient's death., Methods: At the TUM School of Medicine in Munich, Germany, we developed an interprofessional, simulation-based course in which participants were unexpectedly confronted with a cardiac arrest scenario within which resuscitation had to be discontinued due to an advanced directive. After the course, focus groups were conducted with nine medical students and six nursing trainees. Data were analysed using Grounded Theory techniques., Results: The participants reported low to high emotional involvement. The active renunciation of life-sustaining measures was felt to be particularly formative and caused a strange feeling and helplessness. Questions of what could have been done differently determined interviewees' thoughts. The participants appreciated the opportunity to experience what it feels like to lose a patient. The course experience encouraged interviewees to reflect on dying and the interviewees explained that they feel better prepared to face death after the course. The unexpected character of the confrontation, presence of the advanced directive and debriefing positively affected the impact of the simulation., Conclusions: The study recognises simulation training as a promising approach for preparing future health care professionals to encounter a patient's death., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Within its 2 week period, the Oktoberfest attracts around 6 million visitors yearly to Munich, Germany. Due to alcohol intake, congested halls, and disorderly activities, numerous accidents occur. Although many hand injuries are observed, the impact of Oktoberfest on severe hand trauma injury frequency is under investigated., Materials and Methods: Data from the regional emergency medical service (EMS) was analyzed over a 9 year period regarding the frequency of severe hand injuries during the world's largest fair and compared to the corresponding period in the years 2020 and 2021 where the event was cancelled due to the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we compared the patient numbers during the same period in one Emergency Department of a level-1-trauma and hand trauma center located close to the venue., Results: An exploratory description is made from data collected over a 9 year period (2013-2021) with focus on hand injuries before, during and after the "Oktoberfest". A total of 4017 hand injuries were allocated to hospitals by EMS. There was an increase in severe hand injuries by 66% during the 2-weeks-Oktoberfest-period compared to years where the Oktoberfest did not take place. Pre-pandemic statistics show an increasing severe hand trauma frequency of 57.5% in September, compared to EMS-referrals during the remanding year., Conclusion: The risk of injuring relevant structures of the hand during Oktoberfest is extremely high as compared to other parts of the body due to beer stein and fall-associated injuries. These injuries can lead to lifelong impairments. Our data are the first that quantifies and pinpoints the risk of severe injury to the hand during Oktoberfest and therefore, it is of great interest for visitors, hand surgeons, paramedics and emergency department healthcare workers., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Emergency medicine workers are exposed daily to various stressors, especially work-related stress, which have been aggravated by the current SARS-CoV 2 pandemic and impact their physical and mental wellbeing. Nonetheless, although the efficacy of programs and strategies to improving the health of medical staff and patient care has been demonstrated, such programs and strategies are scarce. To assess the prevalence, types and consequences of stress in emergency medical workers in healthcare institutions and explore tools to cope with stressful situations at workplace. Two surveys were conducted. Survey 1 assessed the subjective stress levels and stressors of 21 emergency medicine professionals. Survey 2 was conducted amongst 103 healthcare workers at 3 hospitals in Germany. It comprised selected aspects of the German Mental Risk Assessment and a validated workload scale. None. The answer frequencies on Likert scales were descriptively evaluated. Survey 1: Emergency medical professionals experienced and reported the following high stress levels in acute situations: multitasking during a complex situation; factors associated with the work environment; fear of not appropriately controlling the situation; and lack of sleep. Survey 2: The highest stress levels were experienced in the areas "work environment" and "work organization." The highest scores on the workload scale were obtained for statements on work division, exhaustion, insufficient patient care due to time constraints, regulations, and lack of information. Approximately 80% of healthcare workers had experienced emotionally stressful situations at the workplace, and > 30% had lost a colleague to suicide. There are effective and proven methods to learn how to deal with stress that can easily be established in everyday clinical practice. Healthcare workers are subjected to numerous stressors in their work environment and observe the consequences of these stressors on their own and their colleagues' wellbeing. Coping strategies for high-pressure reduces and resists the job- immanent pressure and stress in healthcare workers., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Critical Care Providers (CCPs) experience situations that challenge their ethics and professional standards and may entail moral distress (MD)., Aim: To analyze MD perceived by CCPs in intensive care units (ICUs) or emergency departments (EDs) and further clarify whether CCPs who rely on spiritual resources differ in their perception of MD from those who do not utilize these resources., Methods: A cross-sectional anonymous survey was administered using a modified version of the German language version of the Moral Distress Scale (MDS) with 2 × 12 items to assess the frequency and the respective perceived burden of specific situations by applying a 5-point Likert scale. Explorative factor analysis was performed and the sub-constructs of the respective items regarding MD frequency and burden were identified. Job burden and professional satisfaction were measured using visual analogue scales (VAS) and a four-point Likert scale, respectively. The 15-item SpREUK questionnaire was applied to measure spiritual attitudes and behaviours and to differentiate between religious and spiritual persons. Data from 385 German-speaking CCPs were included (55% physicians, 45% nurses)., Results: Conflict situations are similar for physicians and nurses although they are perceived as more burdensome by nurses. Among physicians, the MDS factor Looking away/Resignation scores highest for assistant physician residents, whereas distress caused by looking away is more often perceived by specialist physicians without a managerial position. Work satisfaction is inversely associated with MD and emotional exhaustion is positively associated with it. Participants' spirituality is marginally associated with MD. The best predictors of both MD frequency and burden are emotional exhaustion with further influences of work satisfaction, being a nurse, and being a non-believer on the frequency of MD perception. Being a nurse, participants' experience in ICU/ED, and being of the male gender are further predictors of MD burden., Conclusions: MD is experienced differently by different groups of CCPs depending on their place in the hierarchy of responsibility. As MD perception is best predicted by emotional exhaustion, these situations should be avoided. Although some CCPs may rely on spiritual resources, all need individual and team support to cope with MD.

Background: In view of the increasing strain on health workers, psychosocial support measures are becoming more important. The core of a sustainable concept is the establishment of peer support teams. Two aspects are central: first, target group-specific training content, and second, suitable staff members who are trained as peers. The goal of the study was to obtain a first look at what content can be taught in peer training for medical staff, how the training is evaluated by the target group, and which people are interested in training from peers., Methods: During the period 2017-2022, Peer Training for medical staff was developed by a non-profit institution in Germany with state funding and the support of a medical professional association and evaluated during the project. Participants (N = 190) in the Peer Training course were interviewed in advance about their experiences and stresses at work using an anonymous questionnaire. After completing the training modules, the participants filled out an evaluation form., Results: The participants of the Peer Training were predominantly female (70.5%) and middle-aged (between 31 and 50 years old). Most (80.3%) experienced stressful events themselves, mostly without any preparation (93.5%) or follow-up (86.8%) by the employer. The participants estimate their workload in the medium range. The proportion of stressed individuals among the participants was below that of various comparison groups as available reference values. The training module itself was evaluated very positively., Conclusions: The content and framework parameters of the training were rated very well. There is a high degree of fit with the requirements in the health sector. The participants in the Peer Training seem to represent a good cross-section of the target group medical staff, also regarding their own experiences, seem to have a good psychological constitution and are therefore very suitable to work as peers after the training.

Background: A telephone support hotline (PSU-HELPLINE) was established at the beginning of the pandemic due to the burden on health professionals and the lack of support at the workplace. The aim of this study was to evaluate the telephone support service for health professionals in terms of its burden, benefits, and mechanisms of action., Methods: Data collection was conducted during and after calls by PSU-HELPLINE counsellors. In addition to the socio-demographic data evaluation, burdens of the callers and the benefits of the calls were collected. The content-analytical evaluation of the stresses as well as the effect factors were based on Mayring's (2022)., Results: Most of the callers were highly to very highly stressed. The usefulness of the conversation was rated as strong to very strong by both callers and counsellors. The PSU-HELPLINE was used primarily for processing serious events and in phases of overload. The support work was carried out through the following aspects of so-called effect factors, among others: psychoeducation, change of perspective, resource activation, problem actualization, connectedness, information, problem solving, self-efficacy, and preservation of resources., Conclusions: The expansion of local peer support structures and the possibility of a telephone helpline are recommended. Further research is needed.

Background: Interprofessional simulation based education (IPSBE) programs positively impact participants' attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration and learning. However, the extent to which students in different health professions benefit and the underlying reasons for this are subject of ongoing debate., Methods: We developed a 14-h IPSBE course with scenarios of critical incidents or emergency cases. Participants were final year medical students (FYMS) and final year anesthesia technician trainees (FYATT). To assess attitudes towards interprofessionalism, the University of the West of England Interprofessional Questionnaire was administrated before and after the course. Using focus group illustration maps, qualitative data were obtained from a subcohort of the participants (n = 15)., Results: After the course, self-assessment of communication and teamwork skills, attitudes towards interprofessional interactions and relationships showed comparative improvement in both professions. Attitudes towards interprofessional learning improved only in FYMS. Qualitative data revealed teamwork, communication, hierarchy and the perception of one's own and other health profession as main topics that might underlie the changes in participants' attitudes. An important factor was that participants got to know each other during the course and understood each other's tasks., Conclusions: Since adequate communication and teamwork skills and positive attitudes towards interprofessionality account to effective interprofessional collaboration, our data support intensifying IPSBE in undergraduate health care education., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Objectives: To assess, whether cardiac catheterization via radial access prevents contrast-induced nephropathy., Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a major clinical problem which accounts for more than 10% of acute kidney injury cases in hospitalized patients. Protective measures such as the infusion of isotonic saline solution or acetylcysteine have not consistently been proven to prevent acute kidney injury (AKI). However, there is growing evidence that radial access for coronary angiography and coronary intervention is associated with a lower incidence of AKI compared to femoral access., Methods and Results: In a retrospective monocentric analysis, 2937 patients that had undergone cardiac catheterization were examined. Up to 2013, coronary intervention was performed primarily via the femoral artery in our hospital; thereafter, interventions were primarily done via the radial artery. In the cohort under study, 1141 patients had received catheterization using the radial access while 1796 were examined via the femoral artery. No significant differences were found in the two groups regarding the amount of iodinated contrast medium applied [femoral group: 180 (120-260) ml; radial group: 180 (120-250) ml; P = 0.438]. A total of 400 (13.6%) patients developed acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac catheterization (85.3% AKI stage 1; 12.8% AKI stage 2; 2% AKI stage 3). AKI was significantly less frequent in patients that had received radial access compared to patients with femoral access (10.1 vs. 15.9%, P < 0.001). Multivariate regression analysis showed that patient age (1.03/year; 95% CI 1.02-1.04/year; P < 0.001), the amount of contrast media applied (OR 1.003/ml; 95% CI 1.002-1.004/ml; P < 0.001), acute coronary syndrome (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.52-2.66; P < 0.001), CKD (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.50-1.70; P < 0.001), pre-existing heart failure (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.00-1.42 P = 0.007), previous myocardial infarction (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.15-1.49; P = 0.001), diabetes (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.04-1.41; P = 0.020) and serum creatinine before the procedure (1.45/mg/dl; 95% CI 1.24-1.69/mg/dl; P < 0.001) were important risk factors for the occurrence of AKI. Our analysis points to a significant risk reduction using radial access (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.51-0.83; P < 0.001). Interestingly, this reduction in risk was also evident in patients with CKD (OR 0.59; 95% CI 0.41-0.87; P = 0.007). The superiority of radial access was particularly obvious in the subgroup of patients with acute coronary syndrome (13.1% AKI in the radial access group vs. 23.6% AKI in the femoral access group, OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.34-0.81; P = 0.003)., Conclusion: Our study shows that cardiac catheterization using radial access bears significantly lower risk of AKI than cardiac catheterization via femoral access. The advantage of radial access in acute coronary syndrome regarding morbidity and mortality could partly be explained by the here demonstrated reduced risk for AKI. Thus, radial access should be preferred in patients at risk for AKI.

Both acute crises and chronically incriminating circumstances in people's lives may lead to their being afflicted by psychological and somatic ailments. "Burnout" has been coined and established as the term for chronic occupational strain. Many professions claim to be extraordinarily affected by burnout, amongst others physicians and nurses, especially those working in anaesthesiology and critical care. Usually assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventary, the prevalence of moderate or severe burnout in these areas is estimated at about 30 % amongst nurses and about 40 % to 50 % amongst physicians. Both individual characteristics of those afflicted and occupational factors - as well as their interactions - are made responsible for causing burnout. The complexity of potentially stressful impingements, though, particularly within anaesthesiology and critical care, cannot be covered by the traditional burnout-paradigm. The plethora of recommendations found in popular science may be helpful in individual cases. However, there are no evidence-based preventive or therapeutic measures yet, that would endurably mitigate the sequelae of chronic occupational strain. On the one hand, occupationally burdensome factors needed to be registered more elaborately, for instance using the "Stress-Monitor" instrument. On the other hand, an in-hospital "peer-support system" has been developed and implemented in a Munich hospital recently. Anaesthetists and intensive care physicians have formed a network that supports health care workers surmounting acute occupational strain and thus helps to prevent its chronification. Ultimately, the goal of health care workers needed to consist of establishing individual work-related strategies to adequately cope with the manifold occupational stressors in a lifelong learning process., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a well-established method that can exclude pneumothorax by demonstration of pleural sliding and the associated ultrasound artifacts. The positive diagnosis of pneumothorax is more difficult to obtain and relies on detection of the edge of a pneumothorax, called the "lung point." Yet, anesthesiologists are not widely taught these techniques, even though their patients are susceptible to pneumothorax either through trauma or as a result of central line placement or regional anesthesia techniques performed near the thorax. In anticipation of an increased training demand for LUS, efficient and scalable teaching methods should be developed. In this study, we compared the improvement in LUS skills after either Web-based or classroom-based training. We hypothesized that Web-based training would not be inferior to "traditional" classroom-based training beyond a noninferiority limit of 10% and that both would be superior to no training. Furthermore, we hypothesized that this short training session would lead to LUS skills that are similar to those of ultrasound-trained emergency medicine (EM) physicians., Methods: After a pretest, anesthesiologists from 4 academic teaching hospitals were randomized to Web-based (group Web), classroom-based (group class), or no training (group control) and then completed a posttest. Groups Web and class returned for a retention test 4 weeks later. All 3 tests were similar, testing both practical and theoretical knowledge. EM physicians (group EM) performed the pretest only. Teaching for group class consisted of a standardized PowerPoint lecture conforming to the Consensus Conference on LUS followed by hands-on training. Group Web received a narrated video of the same PowerPoint presentation, followed by an online demonstration of LUS that also instructs the viewer to perform an LUS on himself using a clinically available ultrasound machine and submit smartphone snapshots of the resulting images as part of a portfolio system. Group Web received no other hands-on training., Results: Groups Web, class, control, and EM contained 59, 59, 20, and 42 subjects. After training, overall test results of groups Web and class improved by a mean of 42.9% (±18.1% SD) and 39.2% (±19.2% SD), whereas the score of group control did not improve significantly. The test improvement of group Web was not inferior to group class. The posttest scores of groups Web and class were not significantly different from group EM. In comparison with the posttests, the retention test scores did not change significantly in either group., Conclusions: When training anesthesiologists to perform LUS for the exclusion of pneumothorax, we found that Web-based training was not inferior to traditional classroom-based training and was effective, leading to test scores that were similar to a group of clinicians experienced in LUS.

Aims: This study was designed to evaluate safety and effectiveness of the vascular closure device Exoseal (Cordis) for hemostatic control following cardiac catheterization in a real-life clinical setting., Methods and Results: This prospective, single-center study enrolled n = 2,031 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography via the femoral artery ± PCI (n = 801). Patients were excluded if they had radial access, percutaneous repair of structural heart disease, or if they had severe peripheral artery disease. If clinical abnormalities were discovered at the access site, color Doppler ultrasound was performed. The composite primary endpoint was defined as bleeding/vascular complications and device failure, and it was experienced by 5.4 % (n = 110) of patients. The most frequent complications were pseudoaneurysm (2.9 %, n = 58) and access-site hematoma >6 cm (1.8 %, n = 37). The overall device failure rate was 0.7 % (n = 14). Multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the strongest independent predictors of bleeding/vascular complications and/or device failure were procedure duration (OR 2.1, CI 1.4-3.2), PCI (OR 2.7, CI 1.7-4.2), GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors (OR 2.9, CI 1.5-5.7), and age (OR 2.2, CI 1.4-3.5)., Conclusions: These results indicate that Exoseal was safe in a broad collective of patients. However, lengthy procedures, PCIs, the use of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors, and elderly patients require special attention.

High-fidelity simulators (HFSs) have been shown to prompt critical actions at a level equal to that of trained human actors (HAs) and increase perceived realism in intrahospital mass-casualty incident (MCI) exercises. For unannounced prehospital MCI exercises, however, no data are available about the feasibility of incorporating HFSs. This case report describes the integration of HFSs in such an unannounced prehospital MCI drill with HAs and provides data about the differences concerning triage, treatment, and transport of HFSs and HAs with identical injury patterns. For this purpose, 75 actors and four high-fidelity simulators were subdivided into nine groups defined by a specific injury pattern. Four HFSs and six HAs comprised a group suffering from traumatic brain injury and blunt abdominal trauma. Triage results, times for transport, and number of diagnostic and therapeutic tasks were recorded. Means were compared by t test or one-way ANOVA. Triage times and results did not differ between actors and simulators. The number of diagnostic (1.25, SD = 0.5 in simulators vs 3.5, SD = 1.05 in HAs; P = .010) and therapeutic tasks (2.0, SD = 1.6 in simulators vs 4.8, SD = 0.4 in HAs; P = .019) were significantly lower in simulators. Due to difficulties in treating and evacuating the casualties from the site of the accident in a timely manner, all simulators died. Possible causal factors and strategies are discussed, with the aim of increasing the utility of simulators in emergency medicine training.