Development, Implementation, Evaluation, and Long-Term Outcome of a Program to Increase Student Interest in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Training.

Objectives: The increasing need for anesthetists has been coupled with a rising number of open training positions. Thus, there is an increased need to attract future anesthetists among students and graduates from medical universities. Using results from a questionnaire, we designed an information and training program to increase interest in anesthesia and intensive care.

Recent Thoughts about the Ethics of Renal Transplantation.

Ethical controversies in transplantation medicine are frequent and are not only discussed in the medical societies, but also by the pubic at large. Recently, the shortage of donor organs has led to a discussion of the commonly accepted ethical principles applied in transplantation medicine. In this paper, we highlight some of the thoughts expressed in the literature and discuss them in the context of transplantation.

Dealing with the uncertain and the unexpected: a report on the first kidney transplantations in Aden, Republic of Yemen.

First kidney transplantations were performed in Aden, Jemen in 2003. A difficult medical environment and unrehearsed decision-making process in a country of scant resources were the background of this undertaking. A brief report is given on the medical situation, training and preparedness of the Yemeni medical community for transplant procedures.

The COPe program: communicational, organizational and personal factors influencing the transplant process and the number of donor reports.

In this article a supporting program for increasing donor rates is described. Beside medical knowledge and skills, communication and organisation as well as personal values and beliefs are determining factors for the success of every single step in the whole process of organ transplantation. Training for the sensibility in communication, developing concepts for the organization within the team and the work with personal attitudes and values, not only with skills and tools are necessary.

Money for consent--psychological consideration.

Context: Regarding the increasing gap between demand and supply of donor organs the question is increasingly discussed, if families of organ donors should receive a financial incentive for consenting to organ donation. However, little attention has been paid to the psychological consequences of such incentives.

Objective: We discuss the question of financial incentives for families of presumed organ donors in the light of relevant psychological theories.

Aden kidney transplantation.

During the first Yemeni Congress of Uro-Nephrology in Aden, an international team performed the first kidney tranplantations in the region. We report the difficulties encountered and discuss the pros and cons for transplantations in developing countries.

The COPe concept for the training of communication in highly emotional situations.

Members of transplant teams are oft confronted with highly emotional situations. Inability to handle these situations leads to burn-out and impairs the performance of the team. We introduce and discuss first experiences with a training program--COPe--specifically concentrating on establishing and maintaining communication in such situations.