[Advanced life support under special circumstances: part 1]. / Erweiterte kardiopulmonale Reanimation in besonderen Situationen: Teil 1.

Based on the 2005 International Consensus Conference on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), guidelines were published for managing basic and advanced life-saving procedures in the event of cardiac arrest. The fact that special circumstances sometimes must be considered in patient treatment resulted in a separate chapter. This first part of a two-part article reviews essential information as well as necessary modifications of the standard advanced life support algorithm in cases of life-threatening drowning, asthma, anaphylaxis, and poisoning. The second part will deal with electrolyte disorders, hypothermia, electrical emergencies, trauma, cardiac arrest during pregnancy, and cardiac surgery.

[Anaesthesiology as a compulsory subject in the new German medical school curriculum. Evaluation of a curricular model at the University Hospital Aachen]. / Anästhesiologie als Pflichtfach in der neuen Approbationsordnung. Evaluation eines Modell-Curriculums am Universitätsklinikum Aachen.

BACKGROUND: Since October 2003 new regulations for qualifications to practice medicine in Germany now require compulsory courses in anaesthesiology. Therefore, existing curricular activities had to be changed from facultative courses for a small number of interested students to compulsory activities for all students. METHODS: Previous data of the department of anaesthesiology at the University Hospital Aachen (Germany) were collected and taken into consideration for the development of a new curriculum: The result was a course consisting of a tutorial with integrated "basic skill training", practical training in the operating theatre and a simulation-based session, in addition to two series of lectures. An evaluation by the students was carried out using EvaLuna as a tool for web-based on-line evaluation and faculty members had to fill out a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS: The different parts of the curriculum received the highest scores of all courses in the undergraduate medical school curriculum. Best results were achieved by the anaesthesia-simulation session followed by the tutorial and the practical training. CONCLUSION: The feedback of faculty members as well as the results of students' evaluation approved the developed concept of integrating anaesthesia-relevant issues into the formal medical school curriculum. Nevertheless, the on-line evaluation system EvaLuna provided additional suggestions for future improvements in the newly created curriculum.