St. Pölten UAS Hosts First AIS Congress
Symposium on Anaesthesia, Intensive Care, and Higher Education
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On 14 October, the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences organised the first AIS Congress together with the project’s initiators. The comprehensive programme of the specialist conference included international experience reports, discipline-specific questions, and discussions regarding current developments of professional policy.
In the form of presentations and hands-on workshops, more than 120 participants addressed topics such as “Stumbling Blocks in Anaesthesia” and international experiences with anaesthesia. The contribution “Nurse Anaesthetists: A Future-Oriented Profession” and an expert discussion panel on current developments in the sector rounded off the extensive programme.
Why Host the AIS Congress?
“We have created the AIS Congress as a platform for professional discourse between the theory and practice of anaesthesia care and intensive care. Educational contents and scientific findings are connected with technical skills and practical experiences. For us, it is important to bring nurses in training and experienced professionals together in a dialogue. The ongoing development process of ‘Nursing’ requires that both perspectives be linked”, says the statement by the symposium’s initiators Gabriel Wiesbauer and André Lehmann from the University Hospital St. Pölten, and Manuel Kaider, lecturer in the St. Pölten UAS’ study programme Healthcare and NursingPLUS
Numerous experts shared their knowledge and results in presentations on topics such as children as polytrauma patients, and anaesthesia in Africa. In hands-on workshops, the visitors had the opportunity to hone their skills in ECMO (Extra-Corporal Membrane Oxygenation) & HLM (heart-lung machine) as well as fibreoptic intubation.
Award-Winning Bachelor Thesis
Another highlight was the awarding of a prize for one of the presented bachelor theses on practice-relevant topics of anaesthesia and intensive care from the study programme Healthcare and NursingPLUS of the St. Pölten UAS. The audience participated in selecting the thesis “Moralischer Stress bei Intensivpflegepersonen seit Ausbruch der COVID-19-Pandemie” (moral stress in intensive care personnel since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic) as the winner.
Top-Level Panel Discussion
The final panel discussion on current developments in professional policy, health politics, and its implications for specialist care featured Andrea Kdolsky (former federal minister, specialist for anaesthesia and intensive care medicine, and head of the St. Pölten UAS’ Department of Healthcare), Bernhard Rupp (health economist, head of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labour’s division for health policy), Michaela Gansch (nursing director at the University Hospital St. Pölten), and Susanne Gröschel (head of strategy and quality in nursing at NÖ LGA).
The experts discussed current problems as well as opportunities and ways of further developing and improving working conditions in nursing, thereby raising the attractiveness of the profession. The topic areas of education, staff satisfaction, and the establishment of new working models were also considered in this context.
Apply Now
You can start the programme twice a year: Apply now to start in February - or in September 2023: