Der Unfallchirurg
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In its digital agenda the German Federal Government pursues the ambitious objective to facilitate digital competence and perform research into digital learning and teaching processes. Considerable investments are to be concentrated into the future viability of education, academic research and digitalization. As far as academic teaching and further education are concerned, not only in the field of orthopedics and trauma surgery, three aspects can be identified: digital organization, digital competence and digital tools. ⋯ If orthopedic and trauma surgeons take an active role in the process of digitalization of teaching, they can take part in decisions, adequately prepare the colleagues of tomorrow, optimize patient care, encourage innovations and altogether improve the discipline even more.
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In addition to the advantages for patients and physicians, the progression of digitalization will also have economic implications for healthcare systems in toto worldwide. The integration of digital innovations enables healthcare institutions to transform their current activities and processes and to create a new form of patient care. ⋯ Economic redistribution due to digitalization of medicine will become increasingly apparent in the future. Ethical considerations as well as data protection will be important topics. At the same time investments and digital innovations must be sponsored by the government and industry. Scientific studies are necessary to secure the evidence of new methods for practice in orthopedics and trauma surgery.
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Numerous processes are involved in the orthopedic and trauma surgery operating room (OR). Technical progress, particularly in the area of digitalization, is increasingly changing routine surgical procedures. ⋯ Digital technology in the OR can improve treatment quality, patient and staff safety and cost efficiency; however, the networking of devices, implementation of innovations in existing structures and the sometimes high acquisition costs are still limiting factors.
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Various diseases or groups of diseases can trigger bone marrow edema (BME). The task of the appraiser is to work out the role of a diagnosed BME in the context of the causality based on liability; however, the inconsistent ICD 10 coding of the BME complex also poses a problem, especially for medically untrained insurance clerks. The coding of the BME as a fracture provided by the coding guidelines poses a problem when assessing reserves for damage settlement. Based on the etiology of BME an algorithm is presented that should make it easier for the expert as well as for the insurance clerk in the case of liability and also for the private accident insurance to classify the diagnosis of BME in the case.
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As part of the COVID-19 pandemic, political decisions were made to reduce social interaction and to reduce the number of infections. The aim was to create capacities for the in-hospital care of the patients. ⋯ The number of patients in the emergency admission was significantly reduced in the observation period in 2020 compared to the mean of the previous 3 years. This directly made resources available for the care of COVID-19 patients.