Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift für alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen
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Systems that record critical incidents were initially developed for aeronautics and are being increasingly applied in medicine. The objective is to detect problems inherent to systems and system errors before they lead to complications or do harm to patients. We report our preliminary experience with a critical incident reporting system (CIRS). ⋯ In particular, the near miss category revealed system errors which in 85% of cases had immediate consequences for therapeutic procedures. Based on our initial experiences, working with CIRS may be evaluated as positive. The open discussion of incidents and errors also revealed minor but often significant system errors, which resulted in alteration of our internal proceedings and thus improved the quality and safety of treatment.
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In Germany, the mortality from sepsis remains high, and up to 60,000 patients die from it each year. Thus, sepsis is the third most common cause of death. More deaths occur only from coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction. ⋯ Based on these achievements, there is hope of reducing sepsis mortality by 25% in the next few years. Implementing new medical evidence in this context into daily clinical intensive care remains a major hurdle. The early diagnosis of sepsis prior to the onset of clinical deterioration is of particular interest, because this would increase the possibility of early and specified treatment, which is in turn the major determining factor of mortality in septic patients.
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Abdominal sepsis remains a major cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality in surgical intensive care units. It must be considered a life-threatening condition and requires multidisciplinary coordination of intensive care. Apart from the local abdominal infection (peritonitis), abdominal sepsis is defined by extraperitoneal systemic reactions potentially leading to septic shock and death in the further course. Early and radical focus sanitation as well as aggressive systemic antimicrobial therapy remain the causal therapy strategies of abdominal sepsis.
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Sepsis is still a major cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Numerous biochemical indicators have been evaluated regarding their potential in predicting prognosis in sepsis. Generally, one must differentiate between indicators: those for preoperative detection of patients at risk for lethal sepsis and those for early prediction of lethal outcome of septic complications. ⋯ Cytokine-associated gene polymorphisms such as the loss of monocyte HLA-DR expression and homozygotism for the tumor necrosis factor B2 allele have a place in preoperative risk evaluation, as they were associated with worse prognosis in sepsis. Among the most important biochemical indicators for early prediction of lethal outcome in sepsis are decreased L-selectin and elevated IL-18, IL-6, and PCT plasma concentrations. Increased nuclear factor kappaB activity in mononuclear phagocytes and elevated calcitonin gene-related protein plasma concentrations were associated with unfavourable prognosis.