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About

The ESAIC is dedicated to supporting professionals in anaesthesiology and intensive care by serving as the hub for development and dissemination of valuable educational, scientific, research, and networking resources.


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Congresses

The ESAIC hosts the Euroanaesthesia and Focus Meeting congresses that serve as platforms for cutting-edge science and innovation in the field. These events bring together experts, foster networking, and facilitate knowledge exchange in anaesthesiology, intensive care, pain management, and perioperative medicine. Euroanaesthesia is one of the world’s largest and most influential scientific congresses for anaesthesia professionals. Held annually throughout Europe, our congress is a contemporary event geared towards education, knowledge exchange and innovation in anaesthesia, intensive care, pain and perioperative medicine, as well as a platform for immense international visibility for scientific research.


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Professional Growth

The ESAIC's mission is to foster and provide exceptional training and educational opportunities. The ESAIC ensures the provision of robust and standardised examination and certification systems to support the professional development of anaesthesiologists and to ensure outstanding future doctors in the field of anaesthesiology and intensive care.


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Research

The ESAIC aims to advance patient outcomes and contribute to the progress of anaesthesiology and intensive care evidence-based practice through research. The ESAIC Clinical Trial Network (CTN), the Academic Contract Research Organisation (A-CRO), the Research Groups and Grants all contribute to the knowledge and clinical advances in the peri-operative setting.


Learn more about the ESAIC Clinical Trial Network (CTN) and the associated studies.

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EU Projects

The ESAIC is actively involved as a consortium member in numerous EU funded projects. Together with healthcare leaders and practitioners, the ESAIC's involvement as an EU project partner is another way that it is improving patient outcomes and ensuring the best care for every patient.


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Sustainability

To ESAIC is committed to implementing the Glasgow Declaration and drive initiatives towards greater environmental sustainability across anaesthesiology and intensive care in Europe.


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Partnerships

The ESAIC works in collaboration with industry, national societies, and specialist societies to promote advancements in anaesthesia and intensive care. The Industry Partnership offers visibility and engagement opportunities for industry participants with ESAIC members, facilitating understanding of specific needs in anaesthesiology and in intensive care. This partnership provides resources for education and avenues for collaborative projects enhancing science, education, and patient safety. The Specialist Societies contribute to high-quality educational opportunities for European anaesthesiologists and intensivists, fostering discussion and sharing, while the National Societies, through NASC, maintain standards, promote events and courses, and facilitate connections. All partnerships collectively drive dialogue, learning, and growth in the anaesthesiology and intensive care sector.


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Guidelines

Guidelines play a crucial role in delivering evidence-based recommendations to healthcare professionals. Within the fields of anaesthesia and intensive care, guidelines are instrumental in standardizing clinical practices and enhancing patient outcomes. For many years, the ESAIC has served as a pivotal platform for facilitating continuous advancements, improving care standards and harmonising clinical management practices across Europe.


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Publications

With over 40 years of publication history, the EJA (European Journal of Anaesthesiology) has established itself as a highly respected and influential journal in its field. It covers a wide range of topics related to anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine, including perioperative medicine, pain management, critical care, resuscitation, and patient safety.


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Membership

Becoming a member of ESAIC implies becoming a part of a vibrant community of nearly 8,000 professionals who exchange best practices and stay updated on the latest developments in anaesthesiology, intensive care and perioperative medicine. ESAIC membership equips you with the tools and resources necessary to enhance your daily professional routine, nurture your career growth, and play an active role in advancing anaesthesiology, intensive care and perioperative medicine.


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ESAIC News

Session 13S2: Off hours effect on patients’ outcome in ICU and perioperative medicine

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Sunday 29 November, 0830-0930H Channel 5

This three-part session this morning will look at the evidence around ICU admissions and mortality in ‘out of hours’ periods, meaning late nights and early mornings on weekdays and the whole of the weekend period.

The first presentation, by Professor Christian Putensen, University Hospital Bonn, Germany, will analyse a number of studies that assess the risk of out of hours ICU admission and discharge.

There are a wide variety of studies looking at this subject with heterogeneous findings. Prof Putensen will review studies that show ICU discharge at night is independently associated with hospital mortality, and another from Austria demonstrating ICU admission during late night and early morning is associated with increased ICU mortality. The risk of death in ICU decreases across the day and was lowest between midnight and 4 am.

Other studies show that admissions to the ICU at the weekends are at increased risk of death in both the ICU and in hospital more generally, while overall death rates in the ICU and discharges from ICU are significantly lower at weekends.

Prof Putensen will discuss several factors that explain out of hours trends, including that, higher proportions of patients admitted out of hours are likely to be urgent/emergency cases (likely to have a lower chance of survival). He will also discuss the impact of having intensivists staffing ICUs during overnight shifts, and other factors such as simultaneous admissions to ICUs during a night period being a risk factor for higher ICU mortality.

The second talk, on the effects of night-time surgery on patient outcomes, will be given by Professor Andrea Cortegiani of the University of Palermo, Italy. He will explain that performing surgery at night is often necessary due to the deteriorating clinical condition of the patients or the time-dependency of the indication for surgery. “Indeed, the standard of both intra- and early postoperative care may be lower than those in in-hours due to shortage of personnel, less skilled operators or simply the effect on the performance of healthcare workers, known as human factors,” he explains.

The evidence regarding the effect of night/after-hours surgery on patient outcomes is large but conflicting. Several studies failed to provide clear evidence of increased risk of death of complications for patients undergoing night- or after-hours surgery, mostly due to the difficulty in controlling for confounders related to clinical conditions, the severity of the disease, type of surgery and perioperative management. A recent secondary analysis of the LASVEGAS dataset on 9861 patients showed that night-time surgery was independently associated with a 44% increased risk of occurrence of important intraoperative adverse events (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.09-1.9).

A new systematic review and meta-analysis included 40 observational studies, 2.957.065 million patients and demonstrated that night/after-hours surgery was independently associated with a higher risk of 30-day or in-hospital mortality (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.06-1.28) but the certainty of the findings was low. Efforts should be made to reduce the impact of night-time surgeries on patients’ outcomes, mainly working on human factors.

The final presentation on how to improve patient safety will be given by Professor Gary Mills (University of Sheffield, UK).

 

References

  1. Cortegiani A, Gregoretti C, Neto AS, Hemmes SNT, Ball L, Canet J, Hiesmayr M, Hollmann MW, Mills GH, Melo MFV, Putensen C, Schmid W, Severgnini P, Wrigge H, Gama de Abreu M, Schultz MJ, Pelosi P; LAS VEGAS Investigators, the PROVE Network, and the Clinical Trial Network of the European Society of Anaesthesiology. Association between night-time surgery and occurrence of intraoperative adverse events and postoperative pulmonary complications. Br J Anaesth. 2019 Mar;122(3):361-369. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2018.10.063
  2. Cortegiani A, Ippolito M, Misseri G, Helviz Y, Ingoglia G, Bonanno G, Giarratano A, Rochwerg B, Einav S. Association between night/after-hours surgery and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Anaesth. 2020 May;124(5):623-637. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2020.01.019

 

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