Scientific Program

The opening session is meant to welcome everyone, set the tone of the Joint Meeting and take a look at the future of neurocritical care. The first talk will be given by Stephan Mayer, who asked “Where is my Tricorder?” in an unforgettable opening talk at the first Joint Meeting 2013. He will tell us whether we are any closer to the NCC Tricorder 10 years down the line. The next two talks are to present future opportunities or realities in NCC through artificial intelligence and nursing robots. The session will be rounded up by a realistic look at some challenges in international NCC and what the pressing needs are.

• Chairs: Julian Bösel, DGNI; Sarah Livesay, NCS; Katja Wartenberg, DGNI
• Opening Lecture: Ten years towards the Tricorder?
  • (20 min, Stephan Mayer, NCS)
• The future is machine learning – Digital developments applied to coma and other disorders of consciousness
  • (20 min, Jan Claassen , NCS)
• Nursing through robots- The future of nursing
  • (20 min, DaiWai Olson, NCS)
• Dreams meet Dires, real-world needs in Neurocritical Care
  • (20 min, Julian Bösel, DGNI)

A special part of then ePoster session will be in English for NCS-submitted abstract but also abstracts submitted by non-NCS members in English. Topics will be put in order and presentations facilitated by one professor from the NCS and one from the DGNI. Afterwards, the Joint Meeting participiants will join the ANIM24s Get-together in the conference venue.

The time is right to look for common grounds in the world-encompassing topic of brain death, given the pressing needs of organ donation and the differences and uncertainties that are at least felt to be associated with that diagnosis. Brain death has to become and to be accepted as the most reliable diagnosis in neurocritical care -in medicine, actually- everywhere. Delegates from the NCS, the DGNI, and IPAACS who have played pivotal roles as experts in their development will present national guidelines and explore common ground regarding brain death.

• Chairs: Uwe Walter, DGNI; Katharina Busl, NCS
• New US Guidelines in the international context
  • (20 min, Gene Yong Sung NCS)
• The German perspective, recent German guidelines and questions that still need to be addressed
  • (20 min, Wolf-Dirk Niesen, DGNI)
• The Middle Eastern and Muslim perspective
  • (20 min, Hussain Al Rahma, IPACS)
• Towards international common ground to serve all?
  • (20 min, Jose Ignacio Suarez, NCS)

The understanding of the relevance of delirium in (neuro)critical care should be well-known and widespread by now. This session was designed to take a particular look on the topic, really focusing on NEUROcritical care, on what is known instead of what is believed, on the interaction between nurses and physicians, and on truly effective management. By means of a TED system, we plan an interaction with the audience.

• Chairs: Peter Nydahl, DGNI; Paul Vespa, NCS
• Who owns Delirium?
  • (20 min, Susan Yeager, NCS)
• What do we REALLY know about Neurocritical Care Delirium?
  • (20 min, Peter Nydahl, DGNI)
• Discussion: What does really help and what not?
  • Nursing management 
    • (15 min, Marion Diegelmann, DGNI)
  • Pharmacologic management
    • (15 min, Eljim Tesoro, NCS)
  • (Upcoming) Research questions
    • (15 min, Claude Hemphill, NCS)

In this session, all outstanding results from the NCS-DGNI Neuroprognistication Campaign will be succinctly presented. This major endeavor was started at the last Joint Meeting in Würzburg, 2018, and will be wrapped up at this year´s Joint Meeting. All working group leaders will briefly persent their findings and recommendations.

• Chairs: Susanne Mühlschlegel, NCS; Katja Wartenberg, DGN
• Introduction
  • (10 min, Susanne Mühlschlegel, NCS)
• Cardiac arrest
  • (10 min, Venkatakrishna Rajajee, NCS)
• Guillain-Barré-Syndrome
  • (10 min,Katharina Busl, NCS)
• Intracerebral Hemorrhage
  • (10 min, David Hwang, NCS)
• Traumatic Brain Injury
  • (10 min, Susanne Mühlschlegel, NCS)
• Spinal Cord Injury
  • (10 min, Dea Mahanes, NCS)
• Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
  • (10 min, Katja Wartenberg, DGNI)
• Acute Ischemic Stroke
  • (10 min, Shradda Mainali, NCS)
• Status epilepticus
  • (10 min, Dominik Madzar, DGNI)
• Summary
  • (10 min, Katja Wartenberg, DGNI)

Nursing shortage has been a reality for long time but cristallized during the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. There is a worldwide nursing shortage that dramatically affects critical care and leads to closing beds and units. In this session, international delegates will address the problem focussing on neurocritical care. The dimension and causes of nursing sortage will be presented and regional / national strategies exchanged to learn from each other about how to successfully tackle the problem. This will be an interactive TED Session.

• Chairs: Anne-Kathrin Cassier-Woidasky, DGNI; Sarah Livesay, NCS
• The US situation and striving for solutions
  • (10 min, Claude Hemphill, NCS)
• The global and academic hospital perspective
  • (10 min, Sarah Livesay, NCS)
• The community hospital perspective
  • (10 min, Mary Kay Bader, NCS)
• The German situation and striving for solutions
  • (20 min, Sabine Proksch)
• Perspective from low resource countries
  • (20 min, Halima Salisu-Kabara, Nigeria)
• Will there be a way out?
  • (20 min, discussion)

Neuro-Emergencies, a special focus of this year´s ANIM, are addressed from different international perspectives here. Not only management differences, but particularly logistic issues will be presented and compared to gain new ideas and stimulation.

• Chairs: DGNI: Hagen Huttner, NCS: Lori Shutter
• ENLS and other US aspects of Emergency Neuromedicine
  • (15 min, Jordan Bonomo, NCS)
• Pre- and in-hospital triage tools, tele-emergency medicine and other German aspects of Emergency Neuromedicine
  • (15 min, Matthias Klein, DGNI)
• Emergency care of Stroke in the US
  • (15 min, Wade Smith, NCS)
• Emergency Care of Stroke in Germany
  • (15 min, Helge Topka, DGNI)
• Future challenges and lessons in Emergency Neurology
  • (20 min, Discussion)
• Adjourn Joint Meeting
  • (10 min, Julian Bösel, DGNI)