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Abstract Introduction von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a key protein mediating platelet adhesion on the surface of damaged endothelia. To the best of our knowledge, no trial exists that investigated the effect of platelet transfusion in combination with the administration of balanced vWF in severe blood loss, despite being widely used in clinical practice. The Basel Will-Plate study will investigate the impact of the timely administration of balanced vWF (1:1 vWF and FVIII) in addition to platelet transfusion on the need for blood and coagulation factor transfusion in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) who suffer from severe bleeding. The study hypothesis is based on the assumption that adding balanced vWF to platelets will reduce the overall need for transfusion of blood products compared to the transfusion of platelets alone. Methods and analysis The Will-Plate study is an investigator-initiated, single-centre, double-blinded randomised controlled clinical trial in 120 critically ill patients needing platelet transfusion. The primary outcome measure will be the number of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions according to groups. Secondary outcome measures include the number of platelet concentrates transfused within the first 48 h after treatment of study medication, quantity of blood loss in the first 48 h after treatment with the study medication, length of stay in ICU and hospital, number of revision surgeries for haemorrhage control, ICU mortality, hospital mortality, 30-day mortality and 1-year mortality. Patients will be followed after 30 days and 1 year for activities of daily living and mortality assessment. The sample size was calculated to detect a 50% reduction in the number of blood products subsequently transfused within 2 days in patients with Wilate® compared to placebo. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Northwestern and Central Switzerland and will be conducted in compliance with the protocol, the current version of the Declaration of Helsinki, the ICH-GCP or ISO EN 14155 (as far as applicable) and all national legal and regulatory requirements. The study results will be presented at international conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Trials registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04555785. Protocol version: Clinical Study Protocol Version 2, 01.11.2020. Registered on Sept. 21, 2020.

Introduction: von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a key protein mediating platelet adhesion on the surface of damaged endothelia. To the best of our knowledge, no trial exists that investigated the effect of platelet transfusion in combination with the administration of balanced vWF in severe blood loss, despite being widely used in clinical practice. The Basel Will-Plate study will investigate the impact of the timely administration of balanced vWF (1:1 vWF and FVIII) in addition to platelet transfusion on the need for blood and coagulation factor transfusion in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) who suffer from severe bleeding. The study hypothesis is based on the assumption that adding balanced vWF to platelets will reduce the overall need for transfusion of blood products compared to the transfusion of platelets alone. Methods and analysis: The Will-Plate study is an investigator-initiated, single-centre, double-blinded randomised controlled clinical trial in 120 critically ill patients needing platelet transfusion. The primary outcome measure will be the number of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions according to groups. Secondary outcome measures include the number of platelet concentrates transfused within the first 48 h after treatment of study medication, quantity of blood loss in the first 48 h after treatment with the study medication, length of stay in ICU and hospital, number of revision surgeries for haemorrhage control, ICU mortality, hospital mortality, 30-day mortality and 1-year mortality. Patients will be followed after 30 days and 1 year for activities of daily living and mortality assessment. The sample size was calculated to detect a 50% reduction in the number of blood products subsequently transfused within 2 days in patients with Wilate® compared to placebo. Ethics and dissemination: This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Northwestern and Central Switzerland and will be conducted in compliance with the protocol, the current version of the Declaration of Helsinki, the ICH-GCP or ISO EN 14155 (as far as applicable) and all national legal and regulatory requirements. The study results will be presented at international conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Trials registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04555785. Protocol version: Clinical Study Protocol Version 2, 01.11.2020. Registered on Sept. 21, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Critically ill patients rapidly develop muscle wasting resulting in sarcopenia, long-term disability and higher mortality. Bolus nutrition (30–60 min period), whilst having a similar incidence of aspiration as continuous feeding, seems to provide metabolic benefits through increased muscle protein synthesis due to higher leucine peaks. To date, clinical evidence on achievement of nutritional goals and influence of bolus nutrition on skeletal muscle metabolism in ICU patients is lacking. The aim of the Pro BoNo study (Protein Bolus Nutrition) is to compare intermittent and continuous enteral feeding with a specific high-protein formula. We hypothesise that target quantity of protein is reached earlier (within 36 h) by an intermittent feeding protocol with a favourable influence on muscle protein synthesis. Methods Pro BoNo is a prospective randomised controlled study aiming to compare the impact of intermittent and continuous enteral feeding on preventing muscle wasting in 60 critically ill patients recruited during the first 48 h after ICU admission. The primary outcome measure is the time until the daily protein target (≥ 1.5 g protein/kg bodyweight/24 h) is achieved. Secondary outcome measures include tolerance of enteral feeding and evolution of glucose, urea and IGF-1. Ultrasound and muscle biopsy of the quadriceps will be performed. Discussion The Basel Pro BoNo study aims to collect innovative data on the effect of intermittent enteral feeding of critically ill patients on muscle wasting. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03587870 . Registered on July 16, 2018. Swiss National Clinical Trials Portal SNCTP000003234. Last updated on July 24, 2019.

Predictive scoring systems are tools that assess the magnitude of a patient's illness and forecast disease prognosis, usually in the form of mortality, in the ICU. We aimed to determine the mortality rate among patients admitted to ICU using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring system correlating with lengths of stay in the ICU., Methodology: A cohort study using team approach to care was conducted from July 2021 through July 2022 at KRL Hospital. Five hundred fifty-two patients aged 18-40 years, admitted for medical or surgical reasons (other than cardiac) who stayed in the ICU for more than 24 h were included. The APACHE II score was determined using 12 physiological variables at the end of the first 24 h of ICU admission. Data were analyzed using IBM Corp. released in 2015 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0, Armonk, New York)., Results: The average age of study participants was 36.34±2.77, ranging from 18 to 40 years. Three hundred fifteen participants were males and 237 were females. Patients were categorized into four separate groups as per their respective APACHE II scores. Patients with an APACHE II score of 31-40 were assigned to group 1. Patients with an APACHE II score of 21-30 were assigned to group 2. Patients with an APACHE II score of 11-20 were assigned to group 3. Lastly, patients with an APACHE II score of 3-10 were assigned to group 4. All patients in group 1 and group 2 died and none survived. Groups 1 and 2 contained a sum of 228 patients. A total of 123 patients were assigned to group 3, out of which 88 patients (71.54%) survived and 35 patients (28.45%) died. From these observations, it is evident that a higher APACHE II score is correlated with increased mortality., Conclusion: APACHE II scoring serves as an early warning indication of death and prompts clinicians to upgrade their treatment protocol. This makes it a useful tool for the clinical prediction of ICU mortality., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest were declared.Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article, (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Introduction: Over 70% of the intensive care unit (ICU) survivors suffer from long-lasting physical, mental and cognitive problems after hospital discharge. Post-ICU care is recommended by international guidelines, but evidence for cost-effectiveness lacks. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of structured, multidisciplinary and personalised post-ICU care versus usual care on physical and psychological functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of ICU survivors, 1- and 2-year post-ICU discharge., Methods and Analysis: The MONITOR-IC post-ICU care study (MiCare study) is a multicentre stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial conducted in five hospitals. Adult patients at high risk for critical illness-associated morbidity post-ICU will be selected and receive post-ICU care, including an invitation to the post-ICU clinic 3 months after ICU discharge. A personalised long-term recovery plan tailored to patients' reported outcome measures will be made. 770 (intervention) and 1480 (control) patients will be included. Outcomes are 1- and 2-year HRQoL (EuroQol Instrument (EQ-5D-5L)), physical (fatigue and new physical problems), mental (anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder), and cognitive symptoms and cost-effectiveness. Medical data will be retrieved from patient records and cost data from health insurance companies., Ethics and Dissemination: Due to the lack of evidence, Dutch healthcare insurers do not reimburse post-ICU care. Therefore, evaluation of cost-effectiveness and integration in guidelines supports the evidence. Participation of several societies for physicians, nurses, paramedics, and patients and relatives in the project team increases the support for implementation of the intervention in clinical practice. Patients and relatives will be informed by the patient associations, hospitals and professional associations. Informing healthcare insurers about this project's results is important for the consideration for inclusion of post-ICU care in Dutch standard health insurance. The study is approved by the Radboud University Medical Centre research ethics committee (2021-13125)., Trial Registration Number: NCT05066984., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This study aimed to investigate the experiences of long-distance visitors of major trauma patients admitted to intensive care units at a regional major trauma centre. Postal survey. Survey participants (n = 103) at a regional major trauma centre in England, United Kingdom, were identified from hospital records. Included were adult visitors (next of kin) of major trauma patients admitted to intensive care at the study site between January 2016 and July 2018, with ordinary residence located more than one hour's drive from the major trauma centre. Response rate was 45.6%. Median (range) driving distance between respondents' residence and the major trauma centre was 57.8 km (28.8–331.5). Median (range) number of days respondents visited at the major trauma centre was 18 (1–200). The quality of care at the centre was rated highly. Visitors described their often-challenging circumstances, negotiating the emotional, psychological, physical and financial impact of the situation. Suggested areas for improvement included car parking, signposting on and around the site, information provision, waiting areas and accommodation at or nearby the major trauma centre. This study has described experiences of long-distance visitors at one regional major trauma centre in England and identified opportunities to ameliorate visitors' stress points locally. Replication at other regional centres may be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary mission of the French military surgical teams deployed in external operations in the Sahel is to provide support for combatants. However, many of their activities and of the limited human and material resources allocated to them are devoted to providing free medical assistance to the local population. The French military surgical teams are very often expected to take care of serious burns for the benefit of civil populations because of the absence of dedicated civilian medical structures. Surgical teams are faced with a necessary triage of patients to be taken care of because of the discrepancy between the high demand for care and the means at their disposal. But the triage can lead to ethical dilemmas when the values that come into play in the decision contradict each other or when they run up against the quota of available human and material resources, as well as the interests of the military institution. The challenge is then to become aware of these dilemmas in this particular context. A discussion of these ethical dilemmas would help carers to avoid developing fatalistic attitudes or developing chronic pathologies due to unresolved or unconscious predicaments. Solutions are proposed that place ethical reflection at the heart of the practices during external operations by the French surgical teams. The ethics of discussion must bring together all players in care management and also the military authorities, before, during and after the missions. Training programmes for ethical reflection would benefit surgical teams and help them approach and become aware of the dilemmas they will necessarily face., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Specialist units that assist indigenous forces (IF) in their strategic aims are supported by medical teams providing point of injury emergency care for casualties, including IF and civilians (Civ). We investigated the activities of a Coalition Forces far-forward medical facility, in order to inform medical providers about the facilities and resources required for medical support to IF and Civ during such operations., Methods: A prospective observational study (June to August 2017) undertaken at a far-forward Coalition Forces medical support unit (12 rotating personnel) recorded patient details (IF or Civ), mechanism of injury (MOI), number of blood products used, damage control resuscitation (DCR) and damage control surgery (DCS), number of mass casualty (MASCAL) scenarios, resuscitative thoracotomy, resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) and whole blood emergency donor panels (EDP)., Results: 680 casualties included 478 IF and 202 Civ (45.5% of the Civ were paediatric). Most common MOIs were blast (n=425; 62.5%) and gunshot wound (n=200; 29.4%). Fifteen (2.2%) casualties died; 627 (92.2%) were transferred to local hospitals. DCR was used for 203 (29.9%), and DCS for 182 (26.8%) casualties. There were 23 MASCAL scenarios, 1220 transfusions and 32 EDPs. REBOA was performed eight times, and thoracotomy was performed 27 times., Conclusions: A small medical team provided high-tempo emergency resuscitative care for hundreds of IF and Civ casualties within a short space of time using state-of-the-art resuscitative modalities. DCR and DCS were undertaken with a large number of EDPs, and a high survival-to-transfer rate., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Despite being a preventable cause of death, drowning is a global public health threat. Australia records an average of 288 unintentional drowning deaths per year; an estimated annual economic burden of $1.24 billion AUD ($2017). On average, a further 712 hospitalisations occur due to non-fatal drowning annually. The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) is the most populous and accounts for 34% of the average fatal drowning burden. This study aims to explore the demographics and outcome of patients who are admitted to hospitals for drowning in NSW and also investigates prediction of patients' outcome based on accessible data., Methods and Analysis: This protocol describes a retrospective, cross-sectional data linkage study across secondary data sources for any person (adult or paediatric) who was transferred by NSW Ambulance services and/or admitted to a NSW hospital for fatal or non-fatal drowning between 1/1/2010 and 31/12/2019. The NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection will provide data on admitted patients' characteristics and provided care in NSW hospitals. In order to map patients' pathways of care, data will be linked with NSW Ambulance Data Collection and the NSW Emergency Department Data Collection. Finally patient's mortality will be assessed via linkage with NSW Mortality data, which is made up of the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages and a Cause of Death Unit Record File. Regression analyses will be used to identify predicting values of independent variables with study outcomes., Ethics and Dissemination: This study has been approved by the NSW Population & Health Services Research Ethics Committee. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, mass media releases and at academic conferences. The study will provide outcome data for drowning patients across NSW and study results will provide data to deliver evidence-informed recommendations for improving patient care, including updating relevant guidelines., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

Competing Interests: Competing interests: Johns Hopkins University holds a Board of Directors position in miDiagnostics, owns equity in the company and is also eligible to receive royalty payments for commercial sales by miDiagnostics. AD, JB, RB, SR and YM are eligible to receive distributions of royalty payments to JHU and/or payments related to JHU equity ownership interests in miDiagnostics. This arrangement has been reviewed and approved by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.

Objective: To quantitatively assess the factors associated with non-beneficial treatments (NBTs) in hospital admissions at the end of life., Design: Retrospective multicentre cohort study., Setting: Three large, metropolitan tertiary hospitals in Australia., Participants: 831 adult patients who died as inpatients following admission to the study hospitals over a 6-month period in 2012., Main Outcome Measures: Odds ratios (ORs) of NBT derived from logistic regression models., Results: Overall, 103 (12.4%) admissions involved NBTs. Admissions that involved conflict within a patient's family (OR 8.9, 95% CI 4.1 to 18.9) or conflict within the medical team (OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.4 to 17.8) had the strongest associations with NBTs in the all subsets regression model. A positive association was observed in older patients, with each 10-year increment in age increasing the likelihood of NBT by approximately 50% (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.9). There was also a statistically significant hospital effect., Conclusions: This paper presents the first statistical modelling results to assess the factors associated with NBT in hospital, beyond an intensive care setting. Our findings highlight potential areas for intervention to reduce the likelihood of NBTs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Timely liberation from invasive mechanical ventilation is important to reduce the risk of ventilator-associated complications. Once a patient is deemed ready to tolerate a mode of partial ventilator assist, clinicians can use one of multiple ventilatory modes. Despite multiple trials, controversy regarding the optimal ventilator mode to facilitate liberation remains. Herein, we report the protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis comparing modes of ventilation to facilitate the liberation of a patient from invasive mechanical ventilation., Methods and Analysis: We will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, the Cochrane Library from inception to April 2019 for randomised trials that report on critically ill adults who have undergone invasive mechanical ventilation for at least 24 hours and have received any mode of assisted invasive mechanical ventilation compared with an alternative mode of assisted ventilation. Outcomes of interest will include: mortality, weaning success, weaning duration, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of stay in the acute care setting and adverse events. Two reviewers will independently screen in two stages, first titles and abstracts, and then full texts, to identify eligible studies. Independently and in duplicate, two investigators will extract all data, and assess risk of bias in all eligible studies using the Modified Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Reviewers will resolve disagreement by discussion and consultation with a third reviewer as necessary. Using a frequentist framework, we will perform random-effect network meta-analysis, including all ventilator modes in the same model. We will calculate direct and indirect estimates of treatment effect using a node-splitting procedure and report effect estimates using OR and 95% CI. We will assess certainty in effect estimates using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation methodology., Ethics and Dissemination: Research ethics board approval is not necessary. The results will be disseminated through publication in a peer-reviewed journals., Prospero Registration Number: CRD42019137786., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: Physician-staffed prehospital units are widely used in many countries. The criteria for predicting fatal injury are well recognised for trauma victims, but there are no criteria for predicting critical condition for non-trauma patients. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with non-trauma cases receiving prehospital interventions by physicians., Design: Retrospective observational study., Setting: Physician-staffed prehospital unit (car) at a single-base hospital in a suburban city in Japan., Participants: Participants were 1058 non-trauma patients who received prehospital medical examinations from April 2014 to December 2017., Outcome Measures: The outcome was the occurrence of physician-only interventions (POIs) exceeding paramedics' competencies. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed. Patient's age and gender, presumed disease category, type of location of the emergency, time of alarm, activation time, activator's occupation, time to arrival, transportation time and the destination facility were included as covariates., Results: POIs were provided to 380 (36%) patients. Patient's age, presumed disease category, type of location of the emergency, activator's occupation, time to arrival, transportation time and the destination facility were identified as potential independent factors. Multiple logistic regression analysis found that patient's age, presumed disease category, type of location of the emergency, transportation time and destination facility were the significant independent factors. Transportation times of more than 15 min (adjusted ORs (AORs)=4.17, 95% CI 2.59 to 6.72, p<0.01) or 10 to 14 min (AOR=3.66, 95% CI 2.32 to 5.79, p<0.01) and patient age of 40-59 years (AOR=3.16, 95% CI 1.66 to 6.01, p<0.01) were the strongest independent factors., Conclusions: This study identified the factors associated with non-trauma cases receiving prehospital POIs. Patient's age, presumed disease category, type of location of the emergency and transportation time are independent factors associated with requiring POIs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of training strategy on team deployment of a mechanical chest compression device., Design: Randomised controlled manikin trial., Setting: Large teaching hospital in the UK., Participants: Twenty teams, each comprising three clinicians. Participating individuals were health professionals with intermediate or advanced resuscitation training., Interventions: Teams were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to receive either standard mechanical chest compression device training or pit-crew device training. Training interventions lasted up to 1 h. Performance was measured immediately after training in a standardised simulated cardiac arrest scenario in which teams were required to deploy a mechanical chest compression device., Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: Primary outcome was chest compression flow fraction in the minute preceding the first mechanical chest compression. Secondary outcomes included cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality and mechanical device deployment metrics, and non-technical skill performance. Outcomes were assessed using video recordings of the test scenario., Results: In relation to the primary outcome of chest compression flow fraction in the minute preceding the first mechanical chest compression, we found that pit-crew training was not superior to standard training (0.76 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.79) vs 0.77 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.82), mean difference -0.01 (95% CI -0.06 to 0.03), P=0.572). There was also no difference between groups in performance in relation to any secondary outcome., Conclusions: Pit-crew training, compared with standard training, did not improve team deployment of a mechanical chest device in a simulated cardiac arrest scenario., Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN43049287; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: KC, TQ, RL, JY and GDP report that their organisations have received funding from NIHR for clinical trials on the use of mechanical chest compression devices., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Introduction: Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) are common, costly and potentially life threatening. Most CDI will respond to antibiotic therapy, but 3%-10% of all patients with CDI will progress to a severe, life-threatening course. Complete removal of the large bowel is indicated for severe CDI. However, the 30-day mortality following surgical intervention for severe CDI ranges from 20% to 70%. A less invasive approach using surgical faecal diversion and direct colonic lavage with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and vancomycin has demonstrated a relative mortality reduction of approximately 50%. As an alternative to these operative approaches, we propose to treat patients with bedside intestinal lavage with PEG and vancomycin instillation via nasojejunal tube, in addition to usual antibiotic management. Preliminary data collected by our research group are encouraging., Methods and Analysis: We will conduct a 1-year, single-centre, pilot randomised controlled trial to study this new treatment strategy for patients with severe CDI and additional risk factors for fulminant or complicated infection. After informed consent, patients with severe-complicated CDI without immediate indication for surgery will be randomised to either usual antibiotic treatment or usual antibiotic treatment with the addition of 8 L of PEG lavage via nasojejunal tube. This pilot trial will evaluate our eligibility and enrolment rate, protocol compliance and adverse event rates and provide further data to inform a more robust sample size calculation and protocol modifications for a definitive multicentre trial design. Based on historical data, we anticipate enrolling approximately 24 patients during the 1-year pilot study period.As a pilot study, data will be reported in aggregate. Between-group differences will be assessed in a blinded fashion for evidence of harm, and to further refine our sample size calculation., Ethics and Dissemination: This study protocol has been reviewed and approved by our local institutional review board. Results of the pilot trial and subsequent main trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal., Trial Registration Number: NCT02466698; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Introduction: Retrievable inferior vena cava (IVC) filters have been increasingly used in patients with major trauma who have contraindications to anticoagulant prophylaxis as a primary prophylactic measure against venous thromboembolism (VTE). The benefits, risks and cost-effectiveness of such strategy are uncertain., Methods and Analysis: Patients with major trauma, defined by an estimated Injury Severity Score >15, who have contraindications to anticoagulant VTE prophylaxis within 72 hours of hospitalisation to the study centre will be eligible for this randomised multicentre controlled trial. After obtaining consent from patients, or the persons responsible for the patients, study patients are randomly allocated to either control or IVC filter, within 72 hours of trauma admission, in a 1:1 ratio by permuted blocks stratified by study centre. The primary outcomes are (1) the composite endpoint of (A) pulmonary embolism (PE) as demonstrated by CT pulmonary angiography, high probability ventilation/perfusion scan, transoesophageal echocardiography (by showing clots within pulmonary arterial trunk), pulmonary angiography or postmortem examination during the same hospitalisation or 90-day after trauma whichever is earlier and (B) hospital mortality; and (2) the total cost of treatment including the costs of an IVC filter, total number of CT and ultrasound scans required, length of intensive care unit and hospital stay, procedures and drugs required to treat PE or complications related to the IVC filters. The study started in June 2015 and the final enrolment target is 240 patients. No interim analysis is planned; incidence of fatal PE is used as safety stopping rule for the trial., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethics approval was obtained in all four participating centres in Australia. Results of the main trial and each of the secondary endpoints will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal., Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12614000963628; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Introduction: Medical errors have an incidence of 9% and may lead to worse patient outcome. Teamwork training has the capacity to significantly reduce medical errors and therefore improve patient outcome. One common framework for teamwork training is crisis resource management, adapted from aviation and usually trained in simulation settings. Debriefing after simulation is thought to be crucial to learning teamwork-related concepts and behaviours but it remains unclear how best to debrief these aspects. Furthermore, teamwork-training sessions and studies examining education effects on undergraduates are rare. The study aims to evaluate the effects of two teamwork-focused debriefings on team performance after an extensive medical student teamwork training., Methods and Analyses: A prospective experimental study has been designed to compare a well-established three-phase debriefing method (gather-analyse-summarise; the GAS method ) to a newly developed and more structured debriefing approach that extends the GAS method with TeamTAG (teamwork techniques analysis grid). TeamTAG is a cognitive aid listing preselected teamwork principles and descriptions of behavioural anchors that serve as observable patterns of teamwork and is supposed to help structure teamwork-focused debriefing. Both debriefing methods will be tested during an emergency room teamwork-training simulation comprising six emergency medicine cases faced by 35 final-year medical students in teams of five. Teams will be randomised into the two debriefing conditions. Team performance during simulation and the number of principles discussed during debriefing will be evaluated. Learning opportunities, helpfulness and feasibility will be rated by participants and instructors. Analyses will include descriptive, inferential and explorative statistics., Ethics and Dissemination: The study protocol was approved by the institutional office for data protection and the ethics committee of Charité Medical School Berlin and registered under EA2/172/16. All students will participate voluntarily and will sign an informed consent after receiving written and oral information about the study. Results will be published., Competing Interests: Competing interests: WEH received financial compensation for educational consultancy from the AO Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland. All other authors report no competing interests., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Objective: The modified early warning score (MEWS) is a 'track and trigger' score using routine physiological vital signs. The objective is to determine if the pretransfer MEWS can be used for predicting outcomes in trauma patients requiring interfacility transfer to higher levels of care., Design, Setting and Participants: Retrospective study of consecutively transferred trauma patients into a level-II trauma centre from 2013 to 2014., Interventions: None., Outcome Measures: Mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, operative procedure, MEWS deterioration in-transit, air transport interfacility, secondary overtriage (low injury severity score (ISS) <10, LOS<1 day, discharged home) and severe injury (ISS ≥16). The association between the pretransfer MEWS and outcomes were analysed with Cochran-Armitage trend tests, receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and univariate logistic regression., Results: There were 587 transferred patients; outcomes were reported in 339 patients with complete data on all five vital signs used to calculate the MEWS. The MEWS ranged from 0 to 9 (median of 1). There was a significant linear relationship between MEWS and study outcomes, especially mortality, ICU admission, air medical transport and severe injury (p<0.001 for all). A threshold score ≥4 was identified by ROC analysis; 11.2% of patients had MEWS ≥4. Outcomes were significantly worse in patients with MEWS ≥4 versus <4: mortality (26.2% vs 3.0%, OR=11.59, p<0.001); ICU admission (73.7% vs 47.2%, OR=3.14, p=0.003); air transfer (42.1% vs 15.6%, OR=3.93, p<0.001) and severe injury (59.5% vs 27.2%, OR=3.9, p<0.001). The MEWS was not associated with surgery, in-transit MEWS deterioration or secondary overtriage., Conclusion: Pretransfer MEWS ≥4 may be used by the receiving facility for predicting injury severity, mortality, air transport and ICU resource use. In the interfacility transport setting, the MEWS may be useful for identifying patients with less obvious need for transfer or requiring more expeditious transfer., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)