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Juliane Sachau1, Manon Sendel1, Marie Péchard2, Kathrin Schnabel3, Iris Schmieg3, Terkia Medkour2, Laurent Ecochard4, Markus Woischnik5, Hiltrud Liedgens6, Esther Pogatzki-Zahn3, Didier Bouhassira2, Ralf Baron1 1Division of Neurological Pain Research and Therapy, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany 2Inserm U987, APHP, UVSQ, Paris-Saclay University, CHU Ambroise Paré, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France 3Department of Anaesthesiology, Intens...

Kean Seng Cheah “Are you pro or against cricoid pressure?” This was the exact question in a short debate among colleagues during our theatre tea break. Sellick first demonstrated cricoid pressure in cadavers to prevent reflux of gastric content from reaching the pharynx in a small case series in 1960¹. He later reported applying this technique in 26 high-risk patients, of which he found 23 patients did not report regurgitation before, during or after intubation. Three of his patients had r...

Marcelino Murillo MD, Ricardo Salamanca Parra, Sebastian Amaya MD, María José Andrade, Maria Alejandra Zuñiga, Laura Aponte Camacho, María Isabel Daza Morelli   As science is a subject in constant change, medical research plays an important role in the technological, social, diagnostic and therapeutic advances (1). All of the above allows objective decisions to be made aimed toward the maximum benefit of each patient in any population with evidence-based medicine. For these reasons, medica...

Sarah Galien Being a trainee in anaesthesia and intensive care, you quickly realise that in this speciality, maybe more than others, there are as many ways of doing things as there are different colleagues doing them. This is one of the reasons why I decided to apply for the trainee exchange programme (TEP), hoping for the possibility to see and learn something different and broaden my experience. I was also specifically curious about France, not only because I’m half French and wanted to reco...

Gabriel M.Gurman, MD Chief Editor Since the first days of my studies, I read medicine. First, there were textbooks for each of the disciplines taught at the university. As students, we used to hear during lectures about experimental and clinical studies, well known all over the world since they have been published in very esteemed and known medical journals, but our teachers never asked us to enlarge our knowledge by reading them. It was enough to get the main points, especially when the results...

• European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) fully supports WHO’s Medication without Harm campaign • Recommendations to reduce medication-related harm formed part of the 2010 ESAIC global patient safety project ‘Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology’ since signed by 94 countries • Other society initiatives present a broad response and include the key patient safety education programme Safer Care to Save Lives • ESAIC is also creating ‘peer networks’ connecting anaesthesiologists and critical care physicians to allow them to share vital patient safety knowledge and experience

Prof. Guy Haller The ESAIC is currently developing an extensive Patient Safety education programme, Safer Care to Save Lives. The ESAIC Essential Patient Safety Course (EPSC) is one part of this programme. It will be an online course aimed at providing key knowledge on patient safety. It is built on the basis of the overarching principles of the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology. It is a training pathway aimed at providing key knowledge on patient safety in acute setti...

Prof. Jannicke Mellin-Olsen ESAIC will be organising its first World Patient Safety Awareness week from 12 until 19 September 2022, coinciding with the celebration of World Patient Safety Day on 17 September. On this occasion, Marie-Hélène Lattes interviewed Dr Jannicke Mellin-Olsen, ESAIC Patient Safety and Quality Committee member and the driving force of the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology. What are the main principles and aims of the Helsinki Declaration on Patien...

Alex Rawlings ESAIC Patient Safety and Simulation Project Manager As we start to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a golden opportunity to shape our practice for the future. With PRiPSAIC, the ESAIC takes the next step after the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology. PRiPSAIC works with industry partners, national societies of anaesthesiology and departments of anaesthesiology and intensive care to find and bring together ‘change champions’ and ambassadors for pa...

Alex Rawlings ESAIC Patient Safety and Simulation Project Manager When faced with the problem of continuing valuable simulation training during the pandemic, the ESAIC had to look for innovative solutions.  We had previously collaborated with Madrid’s University Hospital of Alcorcón, and its experienced high-fidelity simulation centre IDEhA, for the 2017 ESAIC Simulation Masterclass on Procedural Sedation and Ventilation Techniques. IDEhA is a space for virtual training in a simulation and t...