Top 10 research priorities in colorectal cancer: results from the Colorectal Cancer Priority-Setting Partnership.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent cause of cancer death in the word. Which aspects of research into CRC should be accorded the highest priority remains unclear, because relevant stakeholders, such as patients, nurses, and physicians, played hardly any part in the development of research projects. The goal in forming the CRC Priority-Setting Partnership (PSP) was to bring all relevant stakeholders together to identify and prioritize unresolved research questions regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of CRC.

Training to identify red flags in the acute care of trauma: who are the patients at risk for early death despite a relatively good prognosis? An analysis from the TraumaRegister DGU®.

Background: In the acute care of trauma, some patients with a low estimated risk of death die suddenly and unexpectedly. In this study, we aim to identify predictors for early death within 24 h following hospital admission in low-risk patients.

Methods: The TraumaRegister DGU® was used to collect records of patients who were primarily treated in a participating hospital between 2004 and 2013 with a RISC II score below 10%.

Patient safety - Development, implementation and evaluation of an interprofessional teaching concept.

Patient safety has high priority in health care. Since successful interprofessional collaboration is essential for patient safety, the topic should ideally be addressed interprofessionally in the curricula. The aim of the project was the development and implementation of an interprofessional teaching concept "patient safety" for medical students and students of health professions at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg.

Suggestions for interprofessional educational courses from a students' perspective - a qualitative study.

The significance of interprofessional education (IPE) for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and thus optimal patient care is widely recognised. As a starting point for a needs-based IPE development, we conducted focus groups interviews with students of different health professions. We assessed experiences with IPE and IPC, ascertained resulting IPE needs, and discussed opportunities for curricular implementation, to meet long-term challenges to health care.

[Interprofessional symptom management at the end of life].

At the end of life patients often show distressful symptoms which significantly reduce their quality of life. The goal of all healthcare professionals should be to recognize the beginning of this end of life period in order to provide good symptom management. For this purpose, existing symptoms have to be recorded, suitable therapeutic goals have to be defined for the current situation and potential therapeutic strategies have to be individually formulated.

[Potential of specialized outpatient palliative care].

Palliative care patients with incurable advanced disease suffering from complex symptoms can receive specialized outpatient palliative care in addition to the existing ambulatory care system. Qualified physicians and nurses care for patients and their dependents in cooperation with other professionals. In addition to a 24/7 on-call service for emergencies or acute crises, patients and their dependents are offered regular visits.

[Digital learning and teaching in medical education : Already there or still at the beginning?].

The current choice of digital teaching and learning formats in medicine is very heterogeneous. In addition to the widely used classical static formats, social communication tools, audio/video-based media, interactive formats, and electronic testing systems enrich the learning environment.For medical students, the private use of digital media is not necessarily linked to their meaningful use in the study.

[Interprofessional symptom management at the end of life].

At the end of life patients often show distressful symptoms which significantly reduce their quality of life. The goal of all healthcare professionals should be to recognize the beginning of this end of life period in order to provide good symptom management. For this purpose, existing symptoms have to be recorded, suitable therapeutic goals have to be defined for the current situation and potential therapeutic strategies have to be individually formulated.

Bleeding Control in Palliative Care Patients With the Help of Tranexamic Acid.

Background: Persistent bleeding is a common reason for admitting patients with advanced cancer to a palliative care unit. Several reports show a successful therapeutic use of the antifibrinolytic agent tranexamic acid in palliative care patients having hemorrhages. However, it is not administered routinely in severe bleeding situations in palliative care, and general dosing recommendations are unclear.

[Establishment of the new cross-sectional field of pain medicine : An application example at the medical faculty of Heidelberg].

Studies from recent years paint a picture of qualitatively deficient treatment in pain medicine. In order to improve the situation knowledge on targeted diagnostics and effective therapy should be imparted at an early stage during undergraduate studies. For this reason the cross-sectional field Q14 - pain medicine was newly created in the revision of the medical physician licencing regulations.

The Impact of Plasma Cholinergic Enzyme Activity and Other Risk Factors for the Development of Delirium in Patients Receiving Palliative Care.

Context: Delirium is an important complication in palliative care patients. One of the potential risk factors for cognitive disorders is deterioration in cholinergic neurotransmission. Anticholinergic medications are known to be important owing to the association of their metabolites with significant morbidity, which is often the result of cumulative effects of medications (anticholinergic burden).

The Anesthesia Preoperative Evaluation Clinic (APEC): a prospective randomized controlled trial assessing impact on consultation time, direct costs, patient education and satisfaction with anesthesia care.

Aim: Anesthetic preoperative evaluation clinics (APECs) are relatively new institutions. Although cost effective, APECs have not been universally adopted in Europe. The aim of this study was to compare preoperative anesthetic assessment in wards with an APEC, assessing time, information gain, patient satisfaction and secondary costs.

The Heidelberg Peri-anaesthetic Questionnaire--development of a new refined psychometric questionnaire.

We have developed a questionnaire to assess patients' peri-anaesthetic satisfaction. We recruited 1398 patients and 59 health care professionals for construction and validation. Relevant items were rated for preferences.