[Redirection of patients from the emergency department to ambulatory care: a feasibility study].

Background: § 120 para. 3b SGB V mandates the Federal Joint Committee to define guidelines for the initial assessment of self-referred walk-in patients as well as for the redirection of patients who can be treated by office-based physicians. A corresponding streaming and redirection process was tested in a feasibility study at the RoMed Clinic Rosenheim.

Preparation of hospitals for mass casualty incidents in Bavaria, Germany: care capacities for penetrating injuries and explosions in TerrorMASCALs.

Background: In a terror attack mass casualty incident (TerrorMASCAL), compared to a "normal" MASCAL, there is a dynamic course that can extend over several hours. The injury patterns are penetrating and perforating injuries. This article addresses the provision of material and personnel for the care of special injuries of severely injured persons that may occur in the context of a TerrorMASCAL.

[Diagnosis and immediate therapeutic management of limb injuries. A systematic review of the literature].

Objective: Limb injuries are often underestimated in the diagnostic procedures initiated in the resuscitation room. Missed diagnosis is therefore a frequent consequence in this issue. A systematic analysis of evidence-based procedures was therefore investigated in this paper.

Prospective documentation and analysis of the pre- and early clinical management in severe head injury in southern Bavaria at a population based level.

Treatment of patients suffering from severe head injury is so far restricted to general procedures, whereas specific pharmacological agents of neuroprotection including hypothermia have not been found to improve the outcome in clinical trials. Albeit effective, symptomatic measures of the preclinical rescue of patients (i.e.

[Emergency treatment of penetrating, combined thoracic- and abdominal injury. Pre-hospital i.v. fluid therapy].

We report the rare case of a penetrating, combined thoracic- and abdominal injury as a consequence of a farm work accident. During the recent years, a "treat and run" approach has been increasingly advocated as a time-saving way of treating penetrating injuries, constituting a compromise between the existing strategies of "scoop and run" (used mainly in the USA) and "stay and treat" (preferred in Central Europe). A prolonged rescue response time makes the treat and run approach impossible here.

[Analysis of the incidence and causes of mass casualty events in a southern Germany medical rescue area].

Unlabelled: The growing number of mass casualty events during the early 1990s led, in January 1996, to the foundation of an honorary group of specially trained emergency physicians for dealing primarily with the management of large-scale emergency events and mass casualties. The incidence and quantity of these casualties was analysed in order to be better prepared for such events in the future.

Methods: All calls prospectively registered by the Augsburg Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) in the 5 years from July 1997 to June 2002 were analysed, distinguishing between the different types of damage, number of patients involved, and time of occurrence (time of day/season).

[Ventilation according to the "open lung" concept of multiple trauma patients].

Objective: The ventilation mode clearly influences the course of patients with multiple trauma on the ICU. Ventilation according the "open lung" approach rapidly opens up atelectatic lung regions. Generation of an adequate intrinsic PEEP enables to keep the lung open.