Refresher Courses

1. Evidence-based Practice and Quality Improvement

• Risk perception and communication in anaesthesia (2003)
• Lifestyle and perioperative risk (2003)
• What is a systematic review? (2004)
• Preoperative Evaluation: What is the evidence? (2004)
• The CRASH trial: the first large-scale randomised controlled trial of corticosteroids in head injury (2004)
• Decision making in anaesthesia: The relative importance of evidence and cost-effectiveness (2005)
• Patients satisfaction: When should you measure and what should you ask? (2005)
• Substance abuse and anaesthesia: the substance abusing patient (2005)
• Getting evidence into practice: how to read a paper and run a journal club (2005)
• Defining and promoting excellence in anaesthesia (2006)
• Quality improvement in anaesthesia (2006)
• Benefits and Pitfalls in Evidence-based Medicine (2007)
• How to learn and teach evidence-based practice in anaesthesia (2007)
• Evidence for the use of ultrasound in vascular access (2008)
• The impact of anaesthesia management on morbidity and mortality (2008)
• Evidence-based practice: performing and using systematic reviews (2009)
• Recent evidence for interventions in anaesthesia and critical care; a practical way to apply evidence-based medicine (2009)
• How to read a paper and run a journal club (2010) 
• Quality improvement in anaesthesia: approaches and examples (2010)
• Understanding the evidence: Risk scores and risk prediction (2011) 
• From evidence-based medicine to guidelines and recommendations: A long and winding road (2011) 

2. Ambulatory Anaesthesia

• Screening and selection of ambulatory surgery patients (2003)
• Teaching in a simulation environment-relevant to day surgery? (2003)
• Guidelines for pain management (2004)
• Choosing the anaesthetic for ambulatory surgery—General, regional or local with sedation? (2004)
• Update on pain management (2005)
• Development of Clinical Indicators for ambulatory surgery (2005)
• Preoperative assessment - Day surgery and beyond (2006)
• Neuromuscular blocking agents in day surgery (2006)
• Airway management and ventilation in day surgery (2007)
• Myths, Facts, Theory and Reality of PONV (2007)
• Monitoring and devices in day surgery/office-based practice (2008)
• Drugs in day surgical anaesthesia - Anaesthetics analgesics and adjunctive therapies (2008)
• Sedation in Day Surgery & Office Based; drugs, techniques, monitoring and patient selection (2009)
• The airway in day surgery – the laryngeal mask airway and alternatives (2009)
• Anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs; the dangers and how to manage them (2010) 
• Nausea and vomiting in Day Case Anaesthesia: Risk score, prophylaxis and rescue therapy (2010)
• Are Coxibs more efficacious than traditional NSAIDs: focus on effect and safety? (2011) 
• Possibilities and limitations in the pharmacological management of PONV today (2011)

3. Monitoring: equipment and computers

• Intraoperative Monitoring: What is Necessary, Useful and What is Futile? (2003)
• What to Get Out of the Net (2003)
• Handheld and Wearable Computing in Anesthesiology (2003)
• Depth of anaesthesia: Concepts and monitoring (2004)
• Indicator Dilution Cardiac Output in Clinical Practice (2004)
• Making themoregulation monitoring a morbidity saving strategy (2004)
• Perioperative Goal-Directed Therapy (2005)
• Using metabolic monitoring to adjust therapy (2005)
• How to retrieve, store and process literature the smart way (2005)
• New developments in Transoesophageal Echocardiograph (2006)
• Using ventilation to monitor the circulation (2006)
• EEG Monitoring in Anaesthesia (2006)
• Emerging technologies for Anesthesiologists: Radio Frequency Identification, Ultrasound Indoor Positioning, Voice Over IP and other new technologies (2007)
• Perioperative Laboratory Monitoring (2007)
• Haemodynamic monitoring - update on recent guidelines (2008)
• 2008 Update on EEG Monitoring (2008)
• Automation and Computerisation - How much is enough? (2009)
• Standards of monitoring revisited, what is the evidence? (2009)
• Point of care monitoring of blood: invasive and non-invasive monitoring (2010) 
• Do monitor alarms improve patient safety under anaesthesia? (2010)
• Use of the encephalographic signal as a window to the brain (2011) 
• Automated data collection - (what) can we learn from it? (2011)

4. Clinical and Experimental Circulation

• Can variations in the genome effect outcome in cardiac surgery? (2003)
• Lowering perioperative cardiac risk procedures? (2003)
• What should the anaesthetist know about ischaemia-reperfusion injury? (2004)
• Diastolic dysfunction: definition, diagnosis and treatment (2004)
• The Cardiac Risk Patient - Perioperative Treatment of Diabetes and Hyperglycaemia (2005)
• Handling co-medication in your cardiac-risk patient (2005)
• Heart failure in the adult (2006)
• Genetics and Anaesthesia (2006)
• Prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolic complications in the perioperative period (2007)
• Rational perioperative use of inotropes and vasodilators (2007)
• Implications of tight glycaemic control in the perioperative management of diabetic and non-diabetic patients (2008)
• What the cardiovascular anaesthesiologist should know about molecular biology (2008)
• The patient with coronary stents and antiplatelet agents: what to do? (2009)
• Pre-operative cardiovascular assessment in non-cardiac surgery: an update (2009) 
• Pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of peri-operative acute renal failure (2010) 
• The biology of vulnerable plaques (2010)
• Advances in cardiovascular monitoring (2011) 
• Rational use of vasoactive drugs (2011)

5. Respiration

• What every anaesthesiologist should know about dyspnoea (2003)
• Myths and reality about lung mechanics (2003)
• Effects of body position on ventilation/perfusion matching (2004)
• Improving peraneaesthesia oxygenation (2004)
• Improving postoperative respiratory outcomes (2005)
• Monitoring gas exchange: from theory to clinical application (2005)
• Anaesthesia and analgesia for thoracic trauma (2006)
• Apnoea and the emergency airway (2006)
• Assessment of respiratory function (2007)
• Anaesthesia in smokers (2007)
• The evidence basis regarding postoperative pulmonary complications (2008)
• Gas exchange (2008)
• Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (2009) 
• Imaging and respiratory care (2009)
• The effect of regional anaesthesia on respiratory function (2010) 
• Bronchoaspiration: incidence, consequences and management (2010)
• Interpreting arterial blood gas analysis (2011) 
• Physiology and pathophysiology of gas exchange during anaesthesia (2011)

6.Transfusion and haemostasis

• Anemia in the ICU - tolerance or therapy? (2003)
• Point-of-care monitoring of haemostasis in the OR and ICU (2004)
• Clinical consequences of leucocyte reduction (2004)
• Hyperchloraemic acidosis: mechanisms and clinical relevance (2005)
• Perioperative limits of anaemia (2005)
• How to manage massive operative blood loss (2006)
• Perioperative platelet transfusions (2006)
• Abbreviated recommendations on the use of recombinant activated factor VII as an adjunctive treatment for massive bleeding – A European perspective (2007)
• Transfusion-related acute lung injury: diagnosis, incidence and treatment (2007)
• Pre-operative coagulation testing (2008)
• Transfusion trigger in the critically ill paediatric patient (2008)
• Oxygen carriers: where do we stand? (2009) 
• Peri-operative fluid management (2009)
• Neuraxial anaesthesia, anticoagulant and antiplatelet agents: the ESA guidelines (2010) 
• Fluid and blood transfusion in obstetrics (2010)
• Implications of the new European guidelines for patients on anti-platelet drugs for coronary stents (2011) 
• Patient blood management: a multidisciplinary strategy to reduce the need for allogeneic blood (2011) 

7. Neurosciences

• Cerebral protection during cardiac surgery (2003)
• Head injured patients and mechanical ventilation (2003)
• Imaging the Injured Brain (2004)
• Paediatric Head Injury (2004)
• Brain Protection - The Clinical Reality (2005)
• Anaesthesia for Interventional Neuroradiology (INR) (2005)
• Ischaemic preconditioning of the brain: facts or fancy? (2006)
• Awake Craniotomy (2006)
• Anaesthetic considerations for paediatric neurotrauma (2007)
• Intracerebral Haemorrhage: Pathophysiology and Treatment (2007)
• Preventing pain in neurosurgical patients (2008)
• Plasma S100B as a marker of brain injury (2008)
• Awake Craniotomy (2009) 
• Genetics of cerebrovascular disease - current understanding and future direction (2009)
• Mechanisms of anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness (2010) 
• Glucose for the brain : fuel and poison? (2010)
• Pregnancy and neurosurgery (2011) 
• The diagnosis and treatment of seizures in the intensive care unit (2011) 

8. Regional anaesthesia

• Continuous Peripheral Nerve Block (2003)
• Difficult airway management and regional anaesthesia (2003)
• Adjuvant Drugs in Regional Anaesthesia (2003)
• The relationship between pharmacokinetics and toxicity of local anaesthetics- implications for dose selection (2004)
• Complications related to regional anaesthesia - A new look at epidemiologic data (2004)
• Regional anesthesia and temperature control (2004)
• Physiological aspects of central blockade (2005)
• Regional anaesthesia and temperature control (2005)
• Ophthalmic regional anesthesia (2005)
• Adjuvant drugs in regional anaesthesia (2005)
• Maximum recommended doses of local anaesthetics – a multifactorial concept (2006)
• The use of ultrasonography in regional anaesthesia (2006)
• Central neural blockade in elderly patients with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases (2007)
• Teaching regional anesthesia (2007)
• Paravertebral block (2008)
• Peripheral nerve blocks for lower limb surgery: practical guidelines (2008)
• Ultrasound in regional anaesthesia - new developments (2009) 
• Time for new local anaesthetics? (2009)
• Adding regional analgesia to general anaesthesia: increase in risk or improved outcome? (2010) 
• Interscalene brachial plexus blockade - Indications, anatomy, practical performance (2010)
• “My block does not work” – Analysis of possible reasons, avoidance and emergency strategies (2011) 
• Education concepts in regional anaesthesia (2011)

9. Pharmacology

• Pharmacology and use of alpha 2 agonists in anaesthesia (2003)
• Closed loop anaesthesia (2003)
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of halogenated agents, clinical consequences (2003)
• Neuroprotective effects of anaesthetics (2004)
• Mechanisms of action of opioid agents: an update (2004)
• Paediatric pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anaesthetic agents (2004)
• Xenon - Clinical Update (2005)
• Benefit/risk ratio of Neuromuscular blocking agents (2005)
• New thoughts on drug kinetics and dynamics, how they affect intravenous use (2005)
• Current status of artificial O2 carriers (2005)
• Recent advances in slow release drug formulations (2005)
• Pharmacology of the neuromuscular junction: actions of muscle relaxants (2006)
• Basic pharmacokinetics for the clinician (2006)
• New approaches to the control of haemostasis: what the anaesthesiologist should know (2006)
• Cellular signalling mediating anaesthetic actions on the brain (2007)
• Clinically relevant drug interactions in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine (2007)
• From acute to chronic postoperative pain: the pharmacological rationale and therapeutic perspectives (2007)
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for routine use of TCI (2008)
• Sodium channels as volatile anaesthetic targets: unraveling the synaptic mechanisms of anaesthesia (2008)
• Drugs mediating myocardial protection (2009) 
• Recent advances in pharmacological neuroprotection (2009)
• Medical strategies to prevent peri-operative renal failure (2010) 
• Dexmedetomidine: new insights (2010)
• Allergy and anaesthesia (2011) 
• Pharmacology of anaesthetic agents: Update and new insights (2011)

10. Paediatric anaesthesia and intensive care

• Paediatric anaesthesia for non-surgical procedures outside theatres (2003)
• Regional techniques for the non-specialist paediatric anaesthetist (2003)
• Anaesthesia for scoliosis surgery in children (2003)
• Postoperative management after day care anaesthesia in children (2004)
• Side-effects and complications of paediatric regional anaesthesia (2004)
• Management of head trauma in children (2004)
• Risk in Paediatric Anaesthesia (2005)
• Anaesthesia and paediatric surgical emergencies (2005)
• Use, abuse and misuse of NSAIDS in children (2005)
• Size and dosing in paediatric anaesthesia (2006)
• Anaesthesia for the ex-premature infant (2006)
• Morbidity in Paediatric Anaesthesia: A long way to go! (2007)
• Sevoflurane in paediatrics: Is it all good? (2007)
• Paediatric Resuscitation: What is New? (2008)
• Peri-operative fluid therapy in paediatric practice (2008)
• Paediatric regional anaesthesia (2009) 
• Anaesthesia management of a child with a brain injury (2009)
• Dexmedetomidine: new insights (2010)
• Multimodal analgesia in children (2010)
• Understand the guidelines on fluid management in children (2011) 
• Common ENT procedures in children: How to deal with them (2011) 

11. Obstetric anaesthesia

• Factors influencing analgesic requirements in labour (2003)
• Pre-eclampsia and medical problems in pregnancy (+ related article) (2003)
• General Anaesthesia for Caesarean Section - Who Needs It? (2003)
• Fetal CTG: what the anaesthetist needs to know (2004)
• Treatment of spinal hypotension; proactive or reactive? (2004)
• Drug combinations in regional analgesia during labour (2004)
• Intrathecal catheters (2005)
• Mobilization in labour after regional analgesia (2005)
• Cardiovascular effects of oxytocics (2005)
• Non-obstetric surgery in the pregnant patient (2006)
• Remifentanil in obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia (2006)
• Labour Pain (2006)
• Obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia and breastfeeding (2007)
• Effects on the baby of maternal analgesia and anaesthesia (2007)
• Feeding during labour and starving before and after Caesarean section (2008)
• Peripartum cardiomiopathy (2008)
• Analgesia after Caesarean section in the 21st century (2009) 
• Preventing mistakes in obstetric regional analgesia and anaesthesia (2009)
• Changes in human uterine innervation in pregnancy and during labor (2010) 
• Neurophysiology of labour pain (2010) 
• Prevalence and predictors of chronic pain after vaginal delivery (2010)
• Anaesthesia for foetal interventions (2011) 
• Toxicity of local anaesthetics in obstetric anaesthesia and lipid rescue (2011)

12. Intensive care medicine

• How to choose a mechanical ventilator (2003)
• Three decades of lung protective ventilation: what have we learnt? (2003)
• Decompensated heart failure (2003)
• Management of sepsis (2003)
• How we wean a critically ill patient (2003)
• How I treat patients with ARDS (2003)
• Scores: are they useful in clinical practice? (2003)
• Bedside Measurement of Extra-Vascular Lung Water - Technique and Clinical Implications (2003)
• Translating critical care research into critical care practice (2003)
• Gas exchange in ARDS patients (2003)
• The management of patients with COPD requiring mechanical ventilation (2003)
• Strategies to improve gas exchange in acute respiratory distress syndrome (2004)
• Management of sepsis (2004)
• Scores – Are they useful in clinical practice? (2004)
• Update on the diagnosis of sepsis (2004)
• Intensive Care for Acute Head Injury (2004)
• Management of liver failure (2004)
• Prevention and conservative treatment of acute renal failure (2004)
• Update in nutritional support (2004)
• When to transfuse a critically ill patient? (2004)
• Ethical and legal aspects of end of life care (2004)
• Hormonal treatment of septic shock (2005)
• Glucose control in the ICU (2005)
• Post surgical meningitis (2005)
• Update on the treatment of ARDS (2005)
• Multiple organ failure - update on pathophysiology and treatment strategies (2005)
• Oxygen transport and tissue oxygenation in critically ill patients (2005)
• Oxidative stress (2005)
• Management of hepatorenal syndrome (2005)
• Update on red blood cell transfusion (2005)
• Management of weaning (2005)
• Update on haemofiltration (2005)
• Diagnosis and therapy of sepsis (2006)
• Nutritional support in the critically ill (2006)
• Oxygen transport on the global and regional level in the critically ill (2006)
• Sepsis and the kidney (2007)
• How to titrate fluid loading and vasopressor in septic shock (2007)
• Selective Digestive Decontamination (2007)
• Postoperative pneumonia (2007)
• Do we need weaning strategies? (2008)
• Central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2): interest and limitations (2008)
• Renal replacement therapy: state of the art (2008)
• Monitoring and improving microcirculatory dysfunction (2008)
• Treatment strategies following secondary peritonitis (2008)
• Minimally invasive haemodynamic monitoring (2009) 
• Update on nutritional support in ICU (2009) 
• Tracheostomy in critically ill patients (2009) 
• Special populations in the ICU: The elderly patient (2009)
• Blood transfusions in critically ill patients (2010) 
• ARDS treatment (2010) 
• Assessment of volume responsiveness (2010) 
• Management of acute kidney failure (2010)
• Antibiotic therapy in patients with septic shock (2011) 
• Pain and stress in the ICU (2011) 
• Antifungal therapy in the ICU: How, when and whom? (2011) 
• Postoperative delirium (2011) 

13. Resuscitation and emergency medicine

• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (2004)
• Trauma management (2004)
• Airway management in prehospital emergency medicine – not so easy after all? (2005)
• The anaesthesiologist‘s role in transport of critically ill or injured patients (2005)
• Simulation and Education in Emergency Medicine (2006)
• Paediatric Emergency Medicine (together with ESA subcommittee 10) (2006)
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation – From science to survival (2007)
• Factors influencing outcome after prehospital emergencies – A European perspective (2007)
• Trauma resuscitation (2008)
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation - present & future (2008)
• Airway and oxygenation in emergencies (2009) 
• Post resuscitation care – Improving outcome (2009)
• Early management of traumatic brain injury (2010)
• Update in neonatal & paediatric emergencies (2011) 
• Safe airway management in Emergency Medicine: Current concepts (2011)

14. Acute and chronic pain management

• Epidural analgesia for perioperative pain management: State of the Art (2003)
• Can acute pain relief prevent chronic, persistent postoperative neuropathic pain? (2003)
• Gene Therapy in the Management of Pain: A Review (2003)
• Opioid tolerance (2003)
• Gastrointestinal adverse effects of opioids: current therapeutic strategies (2004)
• Nitrous oxide-induced analgesia (2004)
• Postoperative pain management and outcome (2004)
• Postoperative pain management in paediatrics (2004)
• Opioids in the management of chronic non-cancer pain (2004)
• Alpha2-Adrenergic Agonists in Pain Treatment (2005)
• Update in the pharmacology of opioids (2005)
• Occurrence and impact of chronic pain after surgery (2005)
• Neuroimmune interactions in inflammatory pain (2005)
• Postoperative rehabilitation after ambulatory surgery (2006)
• Fast-track surgery - the role of the anaesthesiologist and perioperative pain management (2007)
• Postoperative Analgesia and Patient Outcome (2007)
• Drug treatment of neuropathic pain: what works? (2008)
• Altered sensitivity to opioids – hyperalgesia and tolerance (2008)
• Lessons learned from fibromyalgia (2009) 
• Placebo Response (2009) 
• Persisent postoperative pain - pathogenic mechansism (2010)
• Assessment and mechanisms of musculoskeletal pain (2010)
• Non-opioid adjuvants - ketamine, gabapentinoids, lidocaine: Making the right choice in acute peri-operative analgesia (2011) 
• Update in physiology and pharmacology of analgesia: New drugs and techniques (2011)

15. Education, Research and Presentation

• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesia (2003)
• The use and misuse of statistics in written and oral presentations (2004)
• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (2004)
• Techniques of communication: Cultural and gender differences (2005)
• How to prepare for the European Diploma in Anaesthesia (2005)
• Novel approaches to study design and analysis (2006)
• Meta-analysis – appraisal and pitfalls (2006)
• Electronic Resources to Support Learning (2007)
• The image of the anesthesiologist in the movies and the media (2007)
• How to make a successful grant application (2008)
• Can Europe overtake the US in Medical Research (2008)
• Computerised resident specialist training application process in the USA (2008)
• How to run an obstetric anaesthesia training programme (2009) 
• How to kill your presentation - a practical guide for the uninterested  (2009)
• Top ten statistical errors in the anaesthesia literature (2010)
• How to get your research published (2010)
• How to get a grant - research, teaching and education (2011)
• Health Services Research - What is it and what has it done for Anaesthesia and Critical Care? (2011)

16. Ethics

• Ethical considerations for the anaesthesiologist- basic ethical principles (2004)
• The underperforming doctor - aetiology, signs and management (2005)
• Brain death: from where and to where? (2006)
• End-of-life-decision making in Europe: Euthanasia and Physician assisted death (2006)
• Where do the principles of biomedical ethics come from? (2007)
• Medical Professionalism in Anesthesia and Critical Care (2007)
• Ethical and policy implications of the non-heart-beating cadaver organ donor (2008)
• The EU clinical trials directive and implications for anaesthesia research in Europe (2008)
• Ethics, neuroimaging, and limited states of consciousness (2009) 
• How to Teach Medical Professionalism in Anaesthesia? (2009)
• Extracorporeal life support in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: medical and ethical aspects (2010) 
• Controlled donation after cardiac death (2010)
• Ethical aspects of Informed consent for research in emergency situations (2011) 
• How to create a humane link and improve patient-physician relationships in anaesthesia and obstetrics? (2011)

17. Patient Safety

• Patient outcome indicators: what data to collect in anaesthesia (2004)
• From individuals to organisations: the evolution of safety paradigms (2004)
• Crisis Resource Management to Improve Patient Safety – General priniciples of managing critical situations and preventing errors in anesthesia and intensive care medicine (2005)
• Simulation in anesthesia and acute care settings (2005)
• Improving patient safety by implementing strategies of High Reliability Organization Theory (2005)
• Train where you work – Mobile “in-situ” simulation with video-assisted debriefing in different acute care settings (2006)
• Looking back, looking forward: retrospective and prospective hazard analysis methods to improve patient safety (2006)
• Characteristics of Effective Incident Reporting Systems (2007)
• Achieving Ultrasafe Health Care - What barriers have to be addressed? (2007)
• How to improve patient safety – solving a holistic puzzle (2008)
• Safety at the sharp end – the role of human factors to make anaesthesia safer (2008)
• Checklists and briefing in the operating theatre improve safety and teamwork (2009) 
• Morbidity in anaesthesia in 2009: still need for improvement. Anaesthesia is not safe in 2009 (2009)
• The WHO Safer Surgery initiative: do anaesthetists have a role? (2010) 
• The wisdom of complex organisations: high reliability as a model for anaesthesia (2010)
• Medication errors (2011) 
• Minding the gaps - moving handover research forward (2011)

18. Perioperative Care of the Eldery

• The aged cardiovascular risk patient (2009)  
• Peri-operative brain dysfunction and damage in the elderly (2009)
• The elderly patient scheduled for day case surgery: anaesthetic considerations (2010) 
• Peri-operative haemoglobin in the elderly: how low can we go? (2010)
• Regional anaesthesia in the elderly (2011) 
• New insights into geriatric anaesthesia and tips for success (2011) 

19. Airway Management

• Laryngoscopy: Past, present and future (2007)
• The role of jet ventilation in airway management (2007)
• Fiberoptic intubation: skills and alternative techniques (2008)
• Fibreoptic intubation: modern clinical practice (2008)
• Cricoid pressure: more ritual than effective measure? (2008)
• Paediatric airway problems (2009) 
• The difficult airway - evolving strategies for successful salvage (2009)
• Sedation for fibreoptic bronchoscopy (2010) 
• Airway management and morbid obesity (2010)
• Maintenance of oxygenation throughout airway management (2011) 
• Airway management at the end of anaesthesia: Extubation and related issues (2011)

Others

• Alpha2-adrenoceptor agonists in anaesthesia (2003)
• Lecture by the winner of the EAA Teaching Recognition Award 2003 -Cerebral monitoring and neuronal protection (2004)
• Local anaesthetics and the inflammatory response (2004)
• 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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