[The German Thorax Registry: Implementation of an Established Tool of Perioperative Health Care Research].

The collection of clinical treatment data in registry databases is an important aspect of health services research. It allows for a critical evaluation of the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of clinical treatment concepts in large patient populations. The findings of registry research represent real-world patients and treatment structures as they are not limited by strict inclusion criteria or unrealistic conditions as applied in prospective clinical trials.

The German Critical Incident Reporting System for Anesthesiology: CIRSains.

Background: In June 2010, the Helsinki Declaration was passed. As a result, an online nationwide critical incident reporting system named CIRSmedical Anaesthesiology (CIRSains) was implemented in Germany. The aim of the article is to evaluate CIRSains for practicability and to provide solutions to the problems detected during evaluation.

Success of commonly used operating room management tools in reducing tardiness of first case of the day starts: evidence from German hospitals.

Background: One of the declared objectives of surgical suite management in Germany is to increase operating room (OR) efficiency by reducing tardiness of first case of the day starts. We analyzed whether the introduction of OR management tools by German hospitals in response to increasing economic pressure was successful in achieving this objective. The OR management tools we considered were the appointment of an OR manager and the development and adoption of a surgical suite governance document (OR charter).

Helsinki Declaration on patient safety in anaesthesiology: putting words into practice - experience in Germany.

For years now, the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine and the Professional Association of German Anaesthesiologists have been actively involved in efforts to improve patient safety. To this end, a whole range of activities have been initiated in recent years and, since February 2011, collected together on our home page 'PATSI' (www.patientensicherheit-ains.

ROSC after cardiac arrest--the RACA score to predict outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Aims: Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) following cardiopulmonary resuscitation from cardiac arrest (CA) depends on numerous variables. The aim of this study was to develop a score to predict the initial resuscitation outcome-the RACA (ROSC after cardiac arrest) score.

Methods And Results: Based on 5471 prospectively registered out-of-hospital CAs patients between 1998 and 2008 within the German Resuscitation Registry, calculation of the RACA score was performed by multivariate logistic regression analysis with ROSC as the outcome variable.

Status quo and current trends of operating room management in Germany.

Purpose Of Review: Ongoing healthcare reforms in Germany have required strenuous efforts to adapt hospital and operating room organizations to the needs of patients, new technological developments, and social and economic demands. This review addresses the major developments in German operating room management research and current practice.

Recent Findings: The introduction of the diagnosis-related group system in 2003 has changed the incentive structure of German hospitals to redesign their operating room units.

How work context affects operating room processes: using data mining and computer simulation to analyze facility and process design.

The complexity of the operating room (OR) requires that both structural (eg, department layout) and behavioral (eg, staff interactions) patterns of work be considered when developing quality improvement strategies. In our study, we investigated how these contextual factors influence outpatient OR processes and the quality of care delivered. The study setting was a German university-affiliated hospital performing approximately 6000 outpatient surgeries annually.

[Evidence-based anti-infective program "ABx" - Online-program for anti-infective therapy broadens functions for local adaptations].

National and international evidence based recommendations for anti-infective therapies in the intensive care unit are difficult to implement into daily clinical work. However, adequate and early applications of anti-infective therapies are important outcome factors for the clinical course of severe infections. With support of the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine and the Association of German Anaesthesiologists (DGAI/BDA) a web based anti-infective program was developed to address these issues.

Quality improvement in postoperative pain management: results from the QUIPS project.

Introduction: Acute postoperative pain management is still far from satisfactory despite the availability of high-quality guidelines and advanced pain management techniques.

Methods: An outcome-oriented project called QUIPS (Quality Improvement in Postoperative Pain Management) was developed, consisting of standardized data acquisition and an analysis of quality and process indicators.

Results: After validation of the questionnaire, a total of 12 389 data sets were collected from 30 departments in six participating hospitals.

Operating room management and operating room productivity: the case of Germany.

We examine operating room productivity on the example of hospitals in Germany with independent anesthesiology departments. Linked to anesthesiology group literature, we use the ln(Total Surgical Time/Total Anesthesiologists Salary) as a proxy for operating room productivity. We test the association between operating room productivity and different structural, organizational and management characteristics based on survey data from 87 hospitals.

[Incident reporting systems in anesthesiology--methods and benefits using the example of PaSOS].

Preventing patient harm is one of the main tasks for the field of anesthesiology from early on. With the introduction of the national German incident reporting system PaSOS, which is hosted by the German anesthesia society, anesthesiology is again leading the field of patient safety. Important elements, success factors and background information for the introduction of successful incident reporting systems in an organization are given.