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Abstract Introduction Since the early 2000's, the appeal of certain operating room specialties has decreasedamong medical school graduate students. The recent reform of the second and third cycles of medical studies in France provides an opportunity to set up teaching programs around operating room specialties. We have organised a teaching unit which is part of the final year of medical studies. The main objectives are: (1) to examine whether a boot camp can modify students’ opinions and preconceived assumptions about a surgical and/or anaesthetist career (2) to determine whether these changes in perception, have an impact on students' interest in pursuing a surgical/anaesthetic career compared with the current situation. Materials and methods The “working in the operating theatre” boot camp (UETB) took place after the written exams of the sixth year of medical school, before students choose their future specialty for residency. This program included practical workshops, readings and time for exchanges surgeons and anaesthetists. At the beginning and at the end of the UETB, feedback forms were collected. Results The cohort included 59 students from the Toulouse medical school, academic year 2023–2024. After attending the UETB, there was a significant qualitative improvement in interest in a surgical and intensive care-anaesthesia career. Feedback on how the UETB influenced the choice of a future specialty was very positive, with statistically significant qualitive improvement., Additionally, the students’ perception of a work-life quality as a surgeon and/or anaesthetist improved significantly. Conclusion The outcome of this study makes a strong case for integrating additional exposure to the various surgical subspecialties into the graduate medical curriculum in France. By helping to dispel misperceptions of “a surgical/anaesthetist career” early on, opportunities such as the UETB program may enable addressing the attrition rate observed among surgical and anaesthetic residency applications.

Background During simulation training, the confederate is a member of the pedagogical team. Its role is to facilitate the interaction between participants and the environment, and is thought to increase realism and immersion. Its influence on participants' performance in full-scale simulation remains however unknown. The purpose of this study was to observe the effect of the presence of confederates on the participants’ performance during full-scale simulation of crisis medical situations. Methods This was a prospective, randomized study comparing 2 parallel groups. Participants were emergency medicine residents engaging in a simulation session, with or without confederates. Participants were then evaluated on their Crisis Resource Management performance (CRM). The overall performance score on the Ottawa Global Rating Scale was assessed as primary outcome and the 5 non-technical CRM skills as secondary outcomes. Results A total of 63 simulation sessions, including 63 residents, were included for statistical analysis (n = 32 for Control group and 31 for Confederate group). The mean Overall Performance score was 3.9 ± 0.8 in the Control group and 4.0 ± 1.1 in the Confederate group, 95% confidence interval of the difference [-0.6; 0.4], p = 0.60. No significant differences between the two groups were observed on each CRM items (leadership, situational awareness, communication, problem solving, resource utilization) Conclusion In this randomized and controlled study, the presence of confederates during full-scale simulated practice of crisis medical situations does not seem to influence the CRM skills performance of Emergency medicine residents. Trial registration This study does not need to be registered on Clintrial as it does not report a health care intervention on human participants.

Abstract Background Hypotension and blood pressure (BP) variability during endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to an anterior large vessel occlusion (LVO) is associated with worse outcomes. However, the optimal BP threshold during EVT is still unknown given the lack of randomized controlled evidence. We designed the DETERMINE trial to assess whether an individualized BP management during EVT could achieve better functional outcomes compared to a standard BP management. Methods The DETERMINE trial is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label, blinded endpoint clinical trial (PROBE design). AIS patients with a proximal anterior LVO are randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to an experimental arm in which mean arterial pressure (MAP) is maintained within 10% of the first MAP measured before EVT, or a control arm in which systolic BP (SBP) is maintained within 140–180 mm Hg until reperfusion is achieved or artery closure in case of EVT failure. The primary outcome is the rate of favorable functional outcomes, defined by a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) between 0 and 2 at 90 days. Secondary outcomes include excellent outcome and ordinal analysis of the mRS at 90 days, early neurological improvement at 24 h (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale), final infarct volume, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage rates, and all-cause mortality at 90 days. Overall, 432 patients will be included. Discussion DETERMINE will assess the clinical relevance of an individualized BP management before reperfusion compared to the one size fits all approach currently recommended by international guidelines. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT04352296. Registered on 20th April 2020.

Abstract Background The long-term fate of severely injured patients in terms of their quality of life is not well known. Our aim was to assess the quality of life of patients who have suffered moderate to severe trauma and to identify primary factors of long-term quality of life impairment. Methods A prospective monocentric study conducted on a number of patients who were victims of moderate to severe injuries during the year 2012. Patients were selected based on an Injury Severity Score (ISS) more than or equal to 9. Quality of life was assessed by the MOS SF-36 and NHP scores as a primary evaluation criterion. The secondary evaluation criteria were the determination of the socio-economic impact on quality of life and the identification of factors associated with disability. Results Two hundred and eight patients were contacted by e-mail or telephone. Fifty-five patients participated in this study (with a participation level of 26.4%), including 78.2% men, with a median age of 46. Significant alterations in quality of life were observed with the NHP and MOS SF-36 scale, including physical and psychological components. This resulted in a major socio-economic impact as 26% of the patients could not resume their professional activities (n = 10), 20% required retraining in other lines of work, and 36.4% had a disability status. The study showed that scores ≤ 85 on the physical functioning variable of the MOS SF 36 scale was associated with disability. Conclusion More than five years after a moderate to severe injury, patients’ quality of life was significantly impacted, resulting in significant socio-economic consequences. Disability secondary to major trauma seems to be associated with a score ≤ 85 on the physical functioning dimension of the MOS SF-36 scale. This study raises the question of whether or not early rehabilitation programs should be implemented in order to limit the long-term impact of major trauma.

Abstract Background Intracranial hypertension (ICH) is a major cause of death after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Continuous hyperosmolar therapy (CHT) has been proposed for the treatment of ICH, but its effectiveness is controversial. We compared the mortality and outcomes in patients with TBI with ICH treated or not with CHT. Methods We included patients with TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale ≤ 12 and trauma-associated lesion on brain computed tomography (CT) scan) from the databases of the prospective multicentre trials Corti-TC, BI-VILI and ATLANREA. CHT consisted of an intravenous infusion of NaCl 20% for 24 hours or more. The primary outcome was the risk of survival at day 90, adjusted for predefined covariates and baseline differences, allowing us to reduce the bias resulting from confounding factors in observational studies. A systematic review was conducted including studies published from 1966 to December 2016. Results Among the 1086 included patients, 545 (51.7%) developed ICH (143 treated and 402 not treated with CHT). In patients with ICH, the relative risk of survival at day 90 with CHT was 1.43 (95% CI, 0.99–2.06, p = 0.05). The adjusted hazard ratio for survival was 1.74 (95% CI, 1.36–2.23, p