Publications by authors named "Thomas Wurmb"

In Wuerzburg, Germany, a terrorist attack and a killing rampage occurred five years apart (2016 and 2021). Following a structured evaluation of the rescue mission in 2016, a bundle of quality indicators and ten "lessons learned" were defined. Aim of the presented study was to compare the two rescue missions and to critically review the lessons learned from 2016 for their implementation and feasibility.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The emergency plan at University Hospital Würzburg is crucial for managing mass casualty incidents and is legally required, involving regular drills to train staff and evaluate procedures.
  • - A recent large-scale disaster drill tested various aspects of the emergency plan, including management structure, triage, and communication, using an anonymous questionnaire for evaluation.
  • - While the UKW emergency plan generally performed well, improvements are necessary in communication, staff roles, and awareness of resources, highlighting the need for regular training to ensure effective responses in real emergencies.
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Objective: Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) incidents are a major challenge for emergency medical services and the involved hospitals, especially if decontamination needs to be performed nearby or even within the hospital campus. The University Hospital Wuerzburg has developed a comprehensive and alternative CBRN response plan. The focus of this study was to proof the practicability of the concept, the duration of the decontamination process, and the temperature management.

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Arterial catheterization is considered to be standard procedure for patients undergoing general anesthesia. The most common puncture site is the radial artery (RA), which carries a risk of RA occlusion. Several pieces of literature still recommend the performance of the Allen test (AT) to assess the circulation of the palmar arch.

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Background: The number of patients depending on home mechanical ventilation (HMV) has increased substantially in Germany in recent years. These patients receive long-term care in different nursing facilities (nursing home, shared living community, private home). However, there are limited data available on the quality of care of HMV patients.

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Background: In order to continue to efficiently provide both personnel-intensive and resource-intensive care to severely injured patients, some hospitals have introduced individually differentiated systems for resuscitation room treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concept of the A and B classifications in terms of practicability, indications, and potential complications at a national trauma center in Bavaria.

Methods: In a retrospective study, data from resuscitation room trauma patients in the year 2020 were collected.

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Background: The functionality and treatment capacity of hospitals are decisive components to safeguard the in-hospital treatment of patients in crises and catastrophes. This is shown by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The aim of this study is the elicitation of treatment capacities of hospitals in the trauma network of the German Society for Trauma Surgery (DGU) assuming a damage situation with a multitude of trauma patients needing treatment.

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Background: The war in Ukraine and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic have moved the resilience of the healthcare system in Germany into the focus of a broad discussion. The preparation for such a damage situation is characterized by the relationship between the available treatment capacity and needs which go far beyond the norm. The aim of a resilient healthcare system must be to adequately react to such exceptional situations.

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Objectives: In July 2021, the Medical Task Force 47 was deployed to the flood disaster in western Germany as part of the cross-regional disaster relief system. With the aim of deriving possible improvements in disaster management, it was scientifically evaluated. The focus of this study was the strategy to build up and to maintain a responsive and efficient rescue system.

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Complexity of outpatient intensive care for ventilated people: Cross-mapping into the standardised NNN-taxonomy In Germany, free text is the preferred method for recording the nursing process in outpatient intensive care, although classification systems could enable a more precise description. How is nursing care for people with outpatient ventilation represented by the NNN-taxonomy and what are the recommendations for nursing practice? A qualitative "multiple case" design was applied. Using deductive content analysis (data sources: nursing documentation and secondary analysis of interviews with affected persons), several cases, both individually and across all cases were linked to the NNN-taxonomy (cross-mapping).

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Hospitals play a crucial role in the management of large-scale emergencies or disasters. This has been clearly demonstrated by the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and currently by the Ukraine war. In order to cope with extraordinary situations and large-scale emergencies, such as mass casualty incidents, hospitals need to be prepared in detail - by preparing and implementing a hospital contingency plan.

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The trauma center of the University Hospital Wuerzburg has developed an advanced trauma pathway based on a dual-room trauma suite with an integrated movable sliding gantry CT-system. This enables simultaneous CT-diagnostics and treatment of two trauma patients. The focus of this study was to investigate the quality of the concept based on defined outcome criteria in this specific setting (time from arrival to initiation of CT scan: tCT; time from arrival to initiation of emergency surgery: tES).

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Objectives: Antigen rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are quick, widely available, and inexpensive. Consequently, RDTs have been established as an alternative and additional diagnostic strategy to quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). However, reliable clinical and large-scale performance data specific to a SARS-CoV-2 virus variant of concern (VOC) are limited, especially for the Omicron VOC.

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Background: People on home mechanical ventilation (HMV) belong to a heterogeneous population with complex care needs. In Germany, outpatient intensive care is provided in people's private home (PH) or in shared living communities (SLC). Increasing patient numbers have led to criticism of the quality of care in recent years.

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Background And Objectives: Weaning from ventilators is not always finished in the primary intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Transfer to other treatment facilities is a sensitive stage in the treatment and rehabilitation of the weaning patient. The aim of the present study was to investigate transition management and interhospital transfer of weaning patients, with special emphasis on documentation quality.

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Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) nowadays still represents a severe complication of both a vaginal delivery and a cesarean section. In German-speaking areas a new definition of the term has recently become established and the nomenclature with respect to the severe form of PPH was dropped. The handling of misoprostol as a uterotonic during treatment of PPH is also new, which is available in Germany only as a medical direct import.

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The implementation of patient blood management (PBM) is increasingly becoming standard in operative medicine. Recently, interest has also been shown for the vulnerable collective of pregnant women and neonates. As the information regarding anesthesiological procedures for pregnant women and the peripartum period including an informed consent process should be carried out long before childbirth, this provides a good possibility in this connection to incorporate PBM.

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Purpose: The threat of national and international terrorism remains high. Preparation is the key requirement for the resilience of hospitals and out-of-hospital rescue forces. The scientific evidence for defining medical and tactical strategies often feeds on the analysis of real incidents and the lessons learned derived from them.

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Objective: To investigate the effect of a cognitive aid on the visual attention distribution of the operator using the Salience Effort Expectancy Value (SEEV) model.

Background: Cognitive aids aim to support an operator during the execution of a task. The effect of cognitive aids on performance is frequently evaluated but whether a cognitive aid improved, for example, attention distribution has not been considered.

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On March 14, 2020, the first Bavaria-wide exit restriction was imposed and university teaching in its familiar form was drastically restricted. For intensive care physicians and anesthetists, there was a special area of tension in many places due to the extraordinary demand for the treatment of critically ill patients and the restructuring and maintenance of teaching. We report on the realignment of the anesthesia seminar in an online flipped classroom and the development towards a hybrid model.

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The study aimed to assess the mental well-being of healthcare professionals at a German department of anesthesiology and critical care with a specialized ICU for treatment of COVID-19 patients during the first two peaks of the 2020 pandemic, and identifying risk and protective factors. A single-center longitudinal, online-based survey was conducted in healthcare workers from a department of anesthesiology and critical care in Bavaria, the most affected federal state in Germany at the time of assessment. Validated scores for depression, anxiety, somatic disorders, burnout, resilience, and self-management were used and complemented by questions about perceived COVID-19-related stressors.

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Background: The rapid increase in the use of home mechanical ventilation (HMV) for people with chronic respiratory failure poses extreme challenges for the healthcare system. People on HMV have complex care needs and require support from an interprofessional team. In Germany, HMV is criticised for inadequate quality standards, particularly in outpatient intensive care practice.

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Disaster medicine faces complex challenges and will play an increasing role in the future. Disaster medicine is dominated by a phased imbalance of available and required resources. Various factors, such as a possible hazard for the rescue forces, inaccessible terrain or even destroyed infrastructure increase the complexity enormously.

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