[Interdisciplinary Simulation of Emergency Caesarean Section to Improve Subjective Competence]. / Subjektiver Kompetenzgewinn zur Durchführung eines Notfallkaiserschnitts mittels interdisziplinärem Simulationstraining.

The emergency caesaran section is a gynecological emergency situation which is potentially life-threatening for mother and child. In the management of these time-critical situations human factors as well as the competence of the crisis resource management team have been shown to be important factors for success. The concept "simulation" has not been validated as a training tool for professional competence of multidisciplinary teams in the delivery suite. The aim of this study was, to assess the competence gain by subjective evaluation of the team members after taking part in an emergency caesarian section training which is integrable into the daily clinic setting. Method 36 members of a multidisciplinary team of a delivery suite took part in a 4-hourly "high-fidelity" simulation training "emergency caesarian section". Scenarios were created around the case setting of eclampsia with bradycardia of the child, uterus rupture, placenta abruption and cord prolapse. Each participant was involved in 2 scenarios as either a spectator or a team member. Using a questionnaire, the course performance and debriefing were evaluated and the subjective professional competence in Crisis Resource Management were recorded. Results In the collective of the trainee (over/equal 5 years), 25% had no experience in any cases of emergency caesarean in practice. On a scale of 1 to 6 (1=very good, 6=fail) the course was given an overall mark of 1.4 and a mark of 1.8 for its relevance to daily work. 6 months after the training, participants rated their competencies in prioritising necessary actions, following treatment plans, communicating among the team members as well as integrating new information as significantly improved. Conclusion The 4-hour simulation training can be easily integrated into everyday clinical practice. The participants marked the course scenarios as realistic and relevant for their clinical practice. The number of years of prior work experience is not significanty related with the experience in rare emergency situations. The interdisciplinary team training is a way to improve individual performance as well as to establish and practise interdisciplinary emergency concepts.

Cerebral Oxygenation Under General Anesthesia Can Be Safely Preserved in Patients in Prone Position: A Prospective Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: The effects of prone position (PP) on cerebral tissue metabolism are not well known. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate regional cerebral oxygen desaturation in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery in PP during routine anesthesia management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between July 2013 and October 2013, 50 consecutive patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery under general anesthesia in PP were enrolled. The anesthetic technique was standardized. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, bilateral regional cerebrovascular oxygen saturation was recorded during the surgery. RESULTS: After 30 and 60 minutes of prone repositioning, significant decreases in bilateral regional cerebral oxygen saturation were observed compared with the values in the supine position (from 76.24% to 73.18% at 30 min and 72.76% at 60 min on the right side and from 77.06% to 73.76% at 30 min and 72.92% at 60 min on the left side; P<0.05). These changes were not clinically important and returned to supine values after 90 minutes of prone positioning. Decreases in cerebral oxygen saturation were accompanied by reductions in heart rate and mean arterial pressure (P<0.05). Older age and higher perioperative risk had a significant effect on the reduction of cerebral oxygen values (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study show that margin of safety against impaired cerebral oxygenation can be maintained in PP. Preventing bradycardia and arterial hypotension is crucial. Older patients and those at higher perioperative risk need more meticulous attention.

Simulating a patient's fall as a means to improve routine communication: Joint training for nursing and fifth-year medical students.

BACKGROUND: Physicians and nursing staff interact as a team on a daily basis in hospital settings. However, both educational paths offer few opportunities to establish contact with the other professional group. Neither professional group can practice its later role with the other group in a "safe" learning environment. Routine interprofessional collaboration is described as being in need of great improvement and carries with it the potential for conflict. To improve interprofessional communication and task management, a simulation-based emergency training session for nursing students and fifth-year medical students was developed at the KRH Klinikum Nordstadt in Hanover, Germany. As a pilot project, the course was held twice in the form of a one-day session with ten nursing and four medical students. PROJECT: Using the example of a patient's fall, course participants were able to observe and actively treat multiple simulated patients. Following each simulation the trainer conducted a comprehensive debriefing. The course was then evaluated using a questionnaire. RESULTS: The evaluation of the team training showed a high level of acceptance among the two participating professional groups. On a scale of 1 (hardly applicable) to 5 (strongly applicable), the course was given a 4 by both professional groups for its relevance to daily work. In the open-ended written responses praise was specifically given for the opportunity to learn how to switch perspectives as a result of the simulation exercises. CONCLUSION: A common emergency on the hospital ward offers a good opportunity to establish and practice interprofessional team skills. With the knowledge gained about communication and the ability to change viewpoints, participants are able to improve their team skills. Participants demonstrated a high degree of acceptance for the training program.

Unanticipated Disturbance in Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in a Patient in Park-Bench Position.

Perioperative neuropathy is a known complication of malpositioning during anaesthesia. Somatosensory evoked potentials are used for detecting such a complication in selected surgeries. Most reports of intraoperative nerve injuries due to malpositioning are limited to injuries to the peripheral nervous system, and there have been no previously reported cases of somatosensory evoked potential monitoring disturbance attributable to position-related cerebral ischemia in the park-bench position. We present the case of a patient with glioblastoma in the park-bench position whose somatosensory evoked potential waveforms disappeared after head and neck repositioning. A prompt diagnosis of this complication and elimination of the underlying cause led to the return of somatosensory evoked potential waveforms, and there was no relevant neurologic deficit at the end of the surgery.

Pap smear diagnosis using a hybrid intelligent scheme focusing on genetic algorithm based feature selection and nearest neighbor classification.

The term pap-smear refers to samples of human cells stained by the so-called Papanicolaou method. The purpose of the Papanicolaou method is to diagnose pre-cancerous cell changes before they progress to invasive carcinoma. In this paper a metaheuristic algorithm is proposed in order to classify the cells. Two databases are used, constructed in different times by expert MDs, consisting of 917 and 500 images of pap smear cells, respectively. Each cell is described by 20 numerical features, and the cells fall into 7 classes but a minimal requirement is to separate normal from abnormal cells, which is a 2 class problem. For finding the best possible performing feature subset selection problem, an effective genetic algorithm scheme is proposed. This algorithmic scheme is combined with a number of nearest neighbor based classifiers. Results show that classification accuracy generally outperforms other previously applied intelligent approaches.

Prevention and treatment of intracranial hypertension.

Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the pressure exerted by cranial contents on the dural envelope. It comprises the partial pressures of brain, blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Normal intracranial pressure is somewhere below 10 mmHg; it may increase as a result of traumatic brain injury, stroke, neoplasm, Reye's syndrome, hepatic coma, or other pathologies. When ICP increases above 20 mmHg it may damage neurons and jeopardize cerebral perfusion. If such a condition persists, treatment is indicated. Control of ICP requires measurement, which can only be performed invasively. Standard techniques include direct ventricular manometry or measurement in the parenchyma with electronic or fiberoptic devices. Displaying the time course of pressure (high-resolution ICP tonoscopy) allows assessment of the validity of the signal and identification of specific pathological findings, such as A-, B- and C-waves. When ICP is pathologically elevated--at or above 20-25 mmHg--it needs to be lowered. A range of treatment modalities is available and should be applied with consideration of the underlying cause. When intracranial hypertension is caused by hematoma, contusion, tumor, hygroma, hydrocephalus or pneumatocephalus, surgical treatment is indicated. In the absence of a surgically treatable condition, ICP may be controlled by correcting the patient's position, temperature, ventilation or hemodynamics. If intracranial hypertension persists, drainage of CSF via external drainage is most effective. Other first-tier options include induced hypocapnea (hyperventilation; paCO2 < 35 mmHg), hyperosmolar therapy (mannitol, hypertonic saline) and induced arterial hypertension (CPP concept). When autoregulation of cerebral blood flow is compromised, hyperoncotic treatment aimed at reducing vasogenic edema and intracranial blood volume may be applied. When intracranial hypertension persists, second-tier treatments may be indicated. These include 'forced hyperventilation' (paCO2 < 25 mmHg), barbiturate coma or experimental protocols such as tris buffer, indomethacin or induced hypothermia. The last resort is emergent bilateral decompressive craniectomy; once taken into consideration, it should be performed without undue delay.

Evolving rule-based systems in two medical domains using genetic programming.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate and compare the application of different genetic programming (GP) based intelligent methodologies for the construction of rule-based systems in two medical domains: the diagnosis of aphasia's subtypes and the classification of pap-smear examinations. MATERIAL: Past data representing (a) successful diagnosis of aphasia's subtypes from collaborating medical experts through a free interview per patient, and (b) correctly classified smears (images of cells) by cyto-technologists, previously stained using the Papanicolaou method. METHODS: Initially a hybrid approach is proposed, which combines standard genetic programming and heuristic hierarchical crisp rule-base construction. Then, genetic programming for the production of crisp rule based systems is attempted. Finally, another hybrid intelligent model is composed by a grammar driven genetic programming system for the generation of fuzzy rule-based systems. RESULTS: Results denote the effectiveness of the proposed systems, while they are also compared for their efficiency, accuracy and comprehensibility, to those of an inductive machine learning approach as well as to those of a standard genetic programming symbolic expression approach. CONCLUSION: The proposed GP-based intelligent methodologies are able to produce accurate and comprehensible results for medical experts performing competitive to other intelligent approaches. The aim of the authors was the production of accurate but also sensible decision rules that could potentially help medical doctors to extract conclusions, even at the expense of a higher classification score achievement.

The application of fuzzy-based methods to central nerve fiber imaging.

This paper discusses the potential of fuzzy logic methods within medical imaging. Technical advances have produced imaging techniques that can visualize structures and their functions in the living human body. The interpretation of these images plays a prominent role in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, so physicians must deal with a variety of image processing methods and their applications. This paper describes three different sources of medical imagery that allow the visualization of nerve fibers in the human brain: (1) an algorithm for automatic segmentation of some parts of the thalamus in magnetic resonance images based on the differences in myelin content in various thalamic subnuclei; (2) polarized light for classifying the 3D orientation of the nerve fibers at each point; and (3) confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for calculating semiquantitative variables for myelin content. Fuzzy logic methods were applied to analyze these pictures from low- to high-level image processing. The solutions presented here are motivated by problems of routine neuroanatomic research demonstrating fuzzy-based methods to be valuable tools in medical image processing.