Refresher Courses

1. Evidence based practice and quality assurance

• Risk perception and communication in anaesthesia
• Lifestyle and perioperative risk
• What is a systematic review?
• Preoperative Evaluation: What is the evidence?
• The CRASH trial: the first large-scale randomised controlled trial of corticosteroids in head injury
• Decision making in anaesthesia: The relative importance of evidence and cost-effectiveness
• Patients satisfaction: When should you measure and what should you ask?
• Substance abuse and anaesthesia: the substance abusing patient
• Getting evidence into practice: how to read a paper and run a journal club
• Defining and promoting excellence in anaesthesia
• Quality improvement in anaesthesia
• Benefits and Pitfalls in Evidence-based Medicine
• How to learn and teach evidence-based practice in anaesthesia
• Evidence for the use of ultrasound in vascular access
• The impact of anaesthesia management on morbidity and mortality 

2. Ambulatory Anaesthesia

• Screening and selection of ambulatory surgery patients
• Teaching in a simulation environment-relevant to day surgery?
• Guidelines for pain management
• Choosing the anaesthetic for ambulatory surgery—General, regional or local with sedation?
• Update on pain management
• Development of Clinical Indicators for ambulatory surgery
• Preoperative assessment - Day surgery and beyond
• Neuromuscular blocking agents in day surgery
• Airway management and ventilation in day surgery
• Myths, Facts, Theory and Reality of PONV
• Monitoring and devices in day surgery/office-based practice
• Drugs in day surgical anaesthesia - Anaesthetics analgesics and adjunctive therapies

3. Monitoring: equipment and computers

• Intraoperative Monitoring: What is Necessary, Useful and What is Futile?
• What to Get Out of the Net
• Handheld and Wearable Computing in Anesthesiology
• Depth of anaesthesia: Concepts and monitoring
• Indicator Dilution Cardiac Output in Clinical Practice
• Making themoregulation monitoring a morbidity saving strategy
• Perioperative Goal-Directed Therapy
• Using metabolic monitoring to adjust therapy
• How to retrieve, store and process literature the smart way
• New developments in Transoesophageal Echocardiography
• Using ventilation to monitor the circulation
• EEG Monitoring in Anaesthesia
• Emerging technologies for Anesthesiologists: Radio Frequency Identification, Ultrasound Indoor Positioning, Voice Over IP and other new technologies
• Perioperative Laboratory Monitoring
• Haemodynamic monitoring - update on recent guidelines
• 2008 Update on EEG Monitoring 

4. Clinical and Experimental Circulation

• Can variations in the genome effect outcome in cardiac surgery?
• Lowering perioperative cardiac risk procedures ?
• What should the anaesthetist know about ischaemia-reperfusion injury?
• Diastolic dysfunction: definition, diagnosis and treatment
• The Cardiac Risk Patient - Perioperative Treatment of Diabetes and Hyperglycaemia
• Handling co-medication in your cardiac-risk patient
• Heart failure in the adult
• Genetics and Anaesthesia 
• Prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolic complications in the perioperative period
• Rational perioperative use of inotropes and vasodilators
• Implications of tight glycaemic control in the perioperative management of diabetic and non-diabetic patients
• What the cardiovascular anaesthesiologist should know about molecular biology 

5. Respiration

• What every anaesthesiologist should know about dyspnoea
• Myths and reality about lung mechanics
• Effects of body position on ventilation/perfusion matching
• Improving peraneaesthesia oxygenation
• Improving postoperative respiratory outcomes
• Monitoring gas exchange: from theory to clinical application
• Anaesthesia and analgesia for thoracic trauma
• Apnoea and the emergency airway
• Assessment of respiratory function
• Anaesthesia in smokers
• The evidence basis regarding postoperative pulmonary complications
• Gas exchange 

6.Transfusion and haemostasis

• Anemia in the ICU - tolerance or therapy?
• Point-of-care monitoring of haemostasis in the OR and ICU
• Clinical consequences of leucocyte reduction
• Hyperchloraemic acidosis: mechanisms and clinical relevance
• Perioperative limits of anaemia
• How to manage massive operative blood loss
• Perioperative platelet transfusions
• Abbreviated recommendations on the use of recombinant activated factor VII as an adjunctive treatment for massive bleeding – A European perspective
• Transfusion-related acute lung injury: diagnosis, incidence and treatment
• Pre-operative coagulation testing
• Transfusion trigger in the critically ill paediatric patient 

   

7. Neurosciences

• Cerebral protection during cardiac surgery
• Head injured patients and mechanical ventilation
• Imaging the Injured Brain
• Paediatric Head Injury
• Brain Protection - The Clinical Reality
• Anaesthesia for Interventional Neuroradiology (INR)
• Ischaemic preconditioning of the brain: facts or fancy?
• Awake Craniotomy
• Anaesthetic considerations for paediatric neurotrauma
• Intracerebral Haemorrhage: Pathophysiology and Treatment
• Preventing pain in neurosurgical patients
• Plasma S100B as a marker of brain injury 

8. Local and regional anaesthesia

• Continuous Peripheral Nerve Block
• Difficult airway management and regional anaesthesia
• Adjuvant Drugs in Regional Anaesthesia
• The relationship between pharmacokinetics and toxicity of local anaesthetics- implications for dose selection
• Complications related to regional anaesthesia - A new look at epidemiologic data
• Regional anesthesia and temperature control
• Physiological aspects of central blockade
• Regional anaesthesia and temperature control
• Ophthalmic regional anesthesia
• Adjuvant drugs in regional anaesthesia
• Maximum recommended doses of local anaesthetics – a multifactorial concept
• The use of ultrasonography in regional anaesthesia
• Central neural blockade in elderly patients with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases
• Teaching regional anesthesia
• Paravertebral block
• Peripheral nerve blocks for lower limb surgery: practical guidelines

9. Pharmacology

• Pharmacology and use of alpha 2 agonists in anaesthesia
• Closed loop anaesthesia
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of halogenated agents, clinical consequences
• Neuroprotective effects of anaesthetics
• Mechanisms of action of opioid agents: an update
• Paediatric pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anaesthetic agents
• Xenon - Clinical Update
• Benefit/risk ratio of Neuromuscular blocking agents
• New thoughts on drug kinetics and dynamics, how they affect intravenous use
• Current status of artificial O2 carriers
• Recent advances in slow release drug formulations
• Pharmacology of the neuromuscular junction: actions of muscle relaxants
• Basic pharmacokinetics for the clinician
• New approaches to the control of haemostasis: what the anaesthesiologist should know
• Cellular signalling mediating anaesthetic actions on the brain
• Clinically relevant drug interactions in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine
• From acute to chronic postoperative pain: the pharmacological rationale and therapeutic perspectives
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for routine use of TCI
• Sodium channels as volatile anaesthetic targets: unraveling the synaptic mechanisms of anaesthesia 

10. Paediatric anaesthesia and intensive care

• Paediatric anaesthesia for non-surgical procedures outside theatres
• Regional techniques for the non-specialist paediatric anaesthetist
• Anaesthesia for scoliosis surgery in children
• Postoperative management after day care anaesthesia in children
• Side-effects and complications of paediatric regional anaesthesia
• Management of head trauma in children
• Risk in Paediatric Anaesthesia
• Anaesthesia and paediatric surgical emergencies
• Use, abuse and misuse of NSAIDS in children
• Size and dosing in paediatric anaesthesia
• Anaesthesia for the ex-premature infant
• Morbidity in Paediatric Anaesthesia: A long way to go!
• Sevoflurane in paediatrics: Is it all good?
• Paediatric Resuscitation: What is New?
• Peri-operative fluid therapy in paediatric practice  

11. Obstetric anaesthesia

• Factors influencing analgesic requirements in labour
• Pre-eclampsia and medical problems in pregnancy (+ related article)
• General Anaesthesia for Caesarean Section - Who Needs It?
• Fetal CTG: what the anaesthetist needs to know
• Treatment of spinal hypotension; proactive or reactive?
• Drug combinations in regional analgesia during labour
• Intrathecal catheters
• Mobilization in labour after regional analgesia
• Cardiovascular effects of oxytocics
• Non-obstetric surgery in the pregnant patient
• Remifentanil in obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia
• Labour Pain
• Obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia and breastfeeding
• Effects on the baby of maternal analgesia and anaesthesia
• Feeding during labour and starving before and after Caesarean section
• Peripartum cardiomiopathy

12. Intensive care medicine

• How to choose a mechanical ventilator
• Three decades of lung protective ventilation: what have we learnt?
• Decompensated heart failure
• Management of sepsis
• How we wean a critically ill patient
• How I treat patients with ARDS
• Scores: are they useful in clinical practice?
• Bedside Measurement of Extra-Vascular Lung Water - Technique and Clinical Implications
• Translating critical care research into critical care practice
• Gas exchange in ARDS patients
• The management of patients with COPD requiring mechanical ventilation
• Strategies to improve gas exchange in acute respiratory distress syndrome
• Management of sepsis
• Scores – Are they useful in clinical practice?
• Update on the diagnosis of sepsis
• Intensive Care for Acute Head Injury
• Management of liver failure
• Prevention and conservative treatment of acute renal failure
• Update in nutritional support
• When to transfuse a critically ill patient?
• Ethical and legal aspects of end of life care
• Hormonal treatment of septic shock
• Glucose control in the ICU
• Post surgical meningitis
• Update on the treatment of ARDS
• Multiple organ failure - update on pathophysiology and treatment strategies
• Oxygen transport and tissue oxygenation in critically ill patients
• Oxidative stress
• Management of hepatorenal syndrome
• Update on red blood cell transfusion
• Management of weaning
• Update on haemofiltration
• Diagnosis and therapy of sepsis
• Nutritional support in the critically ill
• Oxygen transport on the global and regional level in the critically ill
• Sepsis and the kidney
• How to titrate fluid loading and vasopressor in septic shock
• Selective Digestive Decontamination
• Postoperative pneumonia
• Do we need weaning strategies?
• Central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2): interest and limitations
• Renal replacement therapy: state of the art
• Monitoring and improving microcirculatory dysfunction
• Treatment strategies following secondary peritonitis

13. Resuscitation and emergency medicine

• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
• Trauma management
• Airway management in prehospital emergency medicine – not so easy after all ?
• The anaesthesiologist‘s role in transport of critically ill or injured patients
• Simulation and Education in Emergency Medicine
• Paediatric Emergency Medicine (together with ESA subcommittee 10)
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation – From science to survival
• Factors influencing outcome after prehospital emergencies – A European perspective
• Trauma resuscitation
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation - present & future 

14. Acute and chronic pain management

• Epidural analgesia for perioperative pain management: State of the Art
• Can acute pain relief prevent chronic, persistent postoperative neuropathic pain?
• Gene Therapy in the Management of Pain: A Review
• Opioid tolerance
• Gastrointestinal adverse effects of opioids: current therapeutic strategies
• Nitrous oxide-induced analgesia
• Postoperative pain management and outcome
• Postoperative pain management in paediatrics
• Opioids in the management of chronic non-cancer pain
• Alpha2-Adrenergic Agonists in Pain Treatment
• Update in the pharmacology of opioids
• Occurrence and impact of chronic pain after surgery
• Neuroimmune interactions in inflammatory pain
• Postoperative rehabilitation after ambulatory surgery
• Fast-track surgery - the role of the anaesthesiologist and perioperative pain management
• Postoperative Analgesia and Patient Outcome
• Drug treatment of neuropathic pain: what works?
• Altered sensitivity to opioids – hyperalgesia and tolerance  

15. Research Presentation

• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesia
• The use and misuse of statistics in written and oral presentations
• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care
• Techniques of communication: Cultural and gender differences
• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesia
• Novel approaches to study design and analysis
• Meta-analysis – appraisal and pitfalls
• Electronic Resources to Support Learning
• The image of the anesthesiologist in the movies and the media
• How to make a successful grant application
• Can Europe overtake the US in Medical Research
• Computerised resident specialist training application process in the USA  

16. Ethics

• Ethical considerations for the anaesthesiologist- basic ethical principles
• The underperforming doctor - aetiology, signs and management.
• Brain death: from where and to where?
• End-of-life-decision making in Europe: Euthanasia and Physician assisted death
• Where do the principles of biomedical ethics come from?
• Medical Professionalism in Anesthesia and Critical Care
• Ethical and policy implications of the non-heart-beating cadaver organ donor
• The EU clinical trials directive and implications for anaesthesia research in Europe 

17. Patient Safety

• Patient outcome indicators: what data to collect in anaesthesia
• From individuals to organisations: the evolution of safety paradigms
• Crisis Resource Management to Improve Patient Safety – General priniciples of managing critical situations and preventing errors in anesthesia and intensive care medicine
• Simulation in anesthesia and acute care settings
• Improving patient safety by implementing strategies of High Reliability Organization Theory
• Train where you work – Mobile “in-situ” simulation with video-assisted debriefing in different acute care settings
• Looking back, looking forward: retrospective and prospective hazard analysis methods to improve patient safety
• Characteristics of Effective Incident Reporting Systems
• Achieving Ultrasafe Health Care - What barriers have to be addressed?
• How to improve patient safety – solving a holistic puzzle
• Safety at the sharp end – the role of human factors to make anaesthesia safer

19. Airway Management ( EAMS)

• Laryngoscopy: Past, present and future
• The role of jet ventilation in airway management
• Fiberoptic intubation: skills and alternative techniques
• Fibreoptic intubation: modern clinical practice
• Cricoid pressure: more ritual than effective measure? 

Others

• Alpha2-adrenoceptor agonists in anaesthesia
• Lecture by the winner of the EAA Teaching Recognition Award 2003 -Cerebral monitoring and neuronal protection
• Local anaesthetics and the inflammatory response
• Optimizing clinical pathways using regional anesthesia (2005 Teaching Recognition Award Winner)
• Cardioprotection by anesthetic agents: myth or reality? (2005 Sleeping Doc-Award Winner)

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