Effects of the “ICU Support” team meeting concept on patient-centered and staff-centered outcomes: study protocol for a randomized controlled multicenter study

Abstract Background Providing optimal care for critically ill patients is an extremely important but also highly demanding task, both emotionally and physically. The “ICU Support” team meeting concept aims to support intensive care unit (ICU) teams by promoting interprofessional communication, peer support, and patient safety by providing a structure for daily team meetings. This protocol describes a study to explore the effectiveness of “ICU Support” for patient- and staff-centered outcomes. Methods ICU Support will be implemented at nine university hospitals located in Germany, following a two-arm randomized parallel group design with an intervention and a control condition and three data collection periods. In the intervention arm, leading ICU personnel (physicians and nurses) will be trained in ICU Support and implement the ICU Support elements into the daily work routine of their units upon completion of data collection period T0 (baseline). In the control arm, ICU Support will not be implemented until the completion of the data collection period T1 (1 month after study start). Until then, the regular daily schedule of the ICU teams will be maintained. The final data collection period (T2) will take place 4 months after the start of the study. Primary outcomes include the number of intensive care complications per patient during their ICU stay during T1 and the sick-related absence of ICU staff during T1. Secondary outcomes include, among others, the average severity of intensive care complications per patient and employee self-reported data regarding their teamwork and patient safety behaviors. Discussion The need for healthy and well-trained ICU staff is omnipresent; thus, structured and evidence-based interventions aimed at supporting ICU teams and facilitating patient safety are required. This multicenter study aims to explore the effectiveness of ICU Support for patient- and staff-centered outcomes. The insights derived from this study have the potential to significantly improve ICU patient safety, staff communication, and connectedness and decrease sickness-related expenses and social costs associated with high work demands among ICU staff. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00028642 . Registered on 4 April 2022

Naturally Occurring Genetic Variants of Human Caspase-1 Differ Considerably in Structure and the Ability to Activate Interleukin-1β

Caspase-1 (Interleukin-1 Converting Enzyme, ICE) is a proinflammatory enzyme that plays pivotal roles in innate immunity and many inflammatory conditions such as periodic fever syndromes and gout. In- flammation is often mediated by enzymatic activation of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18. We detected seven naturally occurring human CASP1 variants with different effects on protein structure, expression, and enzymatic activity. Most mutations destabilized the caspase-1 dimer interface as revealed by crystal structure analysis and homology modeling followed by molecular dynamics simulations. All variants demonstrated decreased or absent enzymatic and IL-1β releasing activity in vitro, in a cell transfection model, and as low as 25% of normal ex vivo in a whole blood assay of samples taken from subjects with variant CASP1, a subset of whom suffered from unclassified autoinflammation. We conclude that decreased enzymatic activity of caspase-1 is compatible with normal life and does not prevent moderate and severe autoinflammation.Fil: Luksch, Hella. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Romanowski, Michael J.. Sunesis Pharmaceuticals. Department of Structural Biology; Estados UnidosFil: Chara, Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos; Argentina. Technische Universitat Dresden. Center for Information Services and High-Performance Computing; AlemaniaFil: Tuengler, Victoria. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Caffarena, Ernesto Raúl. Escola Nacional de Saude Publica Sergio Arouca. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Heymann, Michael C.. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Lohse, Peter. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit; AlemaniaFil: Aksentijevich, Ivona. Inflammatory Disease Section; Estados UnidosFil: Remmers, Elaine F.. Inflammatory Disease Section; Estados UnidosFil: Flecks, Silvana. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Quoos, Nadine. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Gramatté, Johannes. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Petzold, Cathleen. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Hofmann, Sigrun R.. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Winkler, Stefan. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Pessler, Frank. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; Alemania. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Kallinich, Tilmann. Universität zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Ganser, Gerd. Sendenhorst. St. Josef-Stift; AlemaniaFil: Nimtz-Talaska, Antje. Kinderrheumatologie; AlemaniaFil: Baumann, Ulrich. Hannover Medical School; AlemaniaFil: Runde, Volker. Wilhelm-Anton-Hospital; AlemaniaFil: Grimbacher, Bodo. University Hospital Freiburg; AlemaniaFil: Birmelin, Jennifer. University Hospital Freiburg; AlemaniaFil: Gahr, Manfred. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Roesler, Joachim. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; AlemaniaFil: Rösen-Wolff, Angela. University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. Department of Pediatrics. Dresden; Alemani