Team dynamics in emergency surgery teams: results from a first international survey

Background: Emergency surgery represents a unique context. Trauma teams are often multidisciplinary and need to operate under extreme stress and time constraints, sometimes with no awareness of the trauma\u2019s causes or the patient\u2019s personal and clinical information. In this perspective, the dynamics of how trauma teams function is fundamental to ensuring the best performance and outcomes. Methods: An online survey was conducted among the World Society of Emergency Surgery members in early 2021. 402 fully filled questionnaires on the topics of knowledge translation dynamics and tools, non-technical skills, and difficulties in teamwork were collected. Data were analyzed using the software R, and reported following the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). Results: Findings highlight how several surgeons are still unsure about the meaning and potential of knowledge translation and its mechanisms. Tools like training, clinical guidelines, and non-technical skills are recognized and used in clinical practice. Others, like patients\u2019 and stakeholders\u2019 engagement, are hardly implemented, despite their increasing importance in the modern healthcare scenario. Several difficulties in working as a team are described, including the lack of time, communication, training, trust, and ego. Discussion: Scientific societies should take the lead in offering training and support about the abovementioned topics. Dedicated educational initiatives, practical cases and experiences, workshops and symposia may allow mitigating the difficulties highlighted by the survey\u2019s participants, boosting the performance of emergency teams. Additional investigation of the survey results and its characteristics may lead to more further specific suggestions and potential solutions

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Measurement of force-assisted population accumulation in dark states

Atoms can be accumulated by velocity-selective coherent population trapping (VSCPT) in dark states of very highly monovelocity, resulting in very narrow distributions. The optical pumping process that permits the population accumulation proceeds by random walk in momentum space and is of limited eff iciency. Several authors have predicted that damping forces can enhance VSCPT in carefully chosen laser f ields. We present corroboration of this idea with measurements showing increased efficiency for VSCPT

Secular trend and risk factors for antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates in Switzerland 1997-2007

BACKGROUND: : Antibacterial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates of urinary infections, mainly to fluoroquinolones, is emerging. The aim of our study was to identify the secular trend of resistant E. coli isolates and to characterize the population at risk for colonization or infections with these organisms. PATIENTS AND METHODS: : Retrospective analysis of 3,430 E.coli first isolates of urine specimens from patients admitted to the University Hospital Basel in 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2007. RESULTS: : Resistance to ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and amoxicillin/clavulanate has increased over the 10-year study period (from 1.8% to 15.9%, 17.4% to 21.3%, and 9.5% to 14.5%, respectively). A detailed analysis of the 2007 data revealed that independent risk factors for ciprofloxacin resistance were age (5.3% > 35 years of age to 21.9% in patients 0.001) and male gender (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.05-2.41, p = 0.04). In contrast, nosocomial E. coli isolates were associated with lower odds of ciprofloxacin resistance (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.28-0.67, p > 0.001). The frequency of resistant isolate rates was not influenced by the clinical significance (i.e., colonization vs urinary tract infection, UTI) or by whether the urine was taken from a urinary catheter. Importantly, the increase in ciprofloxacin resistance paralleled the increase in ciprofloxacin consumption in Switzerland (Pearson's correlation test R(2)= 0.998, p = 0.002). Of note, resistance was less frequent in isolates sent in by general practitioners. However, after adjustment for age and gender, only resistance against amoxicillin/clavulanate was found to be less frequent (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.16-0.92, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: : Our study reveals that resistance rates have been increasing during the last decade. Published resistance rates may lack information due to important differences regarding age, gender, and probable origin of the isolates. Empirical therapy for UTI should be guided more on individual risk profile and local resistance data than on resistance data banks