Recommendations on the structure, personal, and organization of intensive care units.

Background: Intensive care units (ICU) are central facilities of medical care in hospitals world-wide and pose a significant financial burden on the health care system. Objectives: To provide guidance and recommendations for the requirements of (infra)structure, personal, and organization of intensive care units. Design and setting: Development of recommendations based on a systematic literature search and a formal consensus process from a group of multidisciplinary and multiprofessional specialists from the German Interdisciplinary Association of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI). The grading of the recommendation follows the report from an American College of Chest Physicians Task Force. Results: The recommendations cover the fields of a 3-staged level of intensive care units, a 3-staged level of care with respect to severity of illness, qualitative and quantitative requirements of physicians and nurses as well as staffing with physiotherapists, pharmacists, psychologists, palliative medicine and other specialists, all adapted to the 3 levels of ICUs. Furthermore, proposals concerning the equipment and the construction of ICUs are supplied. Conclusion: This document provides a detailed framework for organizing and planning the operation and construction/renovation of ICUs.

Surface-plasmon-enhanced strain-wave-induced optical diffraction changes from a segmented grating.

We report on surface-plasmon-polariton-enhanced (SPP-enhanced), strain-wave-induced reflection and diffraction changes on a Au-covered, segmented grating. The segmented grating has a 6020 nm period, and its lines are segmented into 7 periods of a 430 nm period grating, which allows the excitation of SPPs. This grating has three SPP resonances at different optical wavelengths, for the same incident angle. Pump-pulse-induced strain waves are probed by measuring reflection and diffraction of a tunable probe pulse in a wavelength range that includes all three SPP resonances. Surface Acoustic Waves (SAWs) and Longitudinal Waves (LWs) are identified. When probing close to SPP resonances, the reflection changes from SAWs and LWs are strongly enhanced by factors of 23 and 36, respectively, compared with reflection changes observed when probing at off-resonance wavelengths. The relative SAW- and LW-induced diffraction changes are larger by additional factors of up to 3.3 and 2.6, respectively, compared to the reflection changes.

[DIVI-Recommendations on the infrastruture of adult intensive care units]. / DIVI-Empfehlung zur Struktur und Ausstattung von Intensivstationen 2022 (Erwachsene).

This document on the Structure and Equipment for Intensive Care Units of the German Association for Intensive and Emergency Care (DIVI) aims at providing guidance and recommendations for the requirements of (infra)structure, personal, and organization of intensive care units. The recommendations are based on a systematic literature search and a formal consensus process from a group of multi-disciplinary and multiprofessional specialists from the DIVI. The recommendations comprise a 3-staged level of intensive care units, a 3-staged level of care with respect to severity of illness, the staffing requirement of physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, psychologists, and other specialists. Furthermore, proposals concerning the equipment and the construction of ICUs are supplied.

[Discussion paper for a hospital financing reform in Germany from the perspective of intensive care medicine]. / Diskussionspapier für eine Reform der Krankenhausfinanzierung in Deutschland aus der Perspektive der Intensivmedizin.

In Germany, there are currently many voices calling for a reform of hospital planning and reimbursement to correct some aberrations of the last decades and to enable the system to cope with future challenges. Some recent political decisions to change the structures of emergency medical services as well as the introduction of mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios and the exclusion of the cost for nursing from the case-based hospital reimbursement represent first steps of a reform, which also affects intensive care and emergency medicine. In this discussion paper a group of intensivists, emergency physicians, medical controllers, and representatives of nurses suggest more far-reaching changes, which can be summarized in 5 points: (1) General hospitals with intensive care units (ICU) and emergency departments (ED) which are part of the emergency medical system should be considered as an element of public service and be planned accordingly. (2) The planning of the intensive care infrastructure should be based on the three levels of emergency medical services to identify hospitals that are system relevant and to define appropriate criteria for structure and quality measures. (3) Hospital reimbursement should consist of a base amount (covering costs for hospital staff, infrastructure plus investments) and case-based fees (covering material costs). (4) To determine the requirements for nurses, physicians, and other medical staff, adequate tools for ICU and ED should be applied. (5) For these purposes as well as for quality management and optimal medical care, hospitals should be provided with a substantially improved IT-infrastructure.