Volatile anaesthetics were the leading cause of early postoperative vomiting. The pro-emetic effect was larger than other risk factors. In patients at high risk for PONV, it would therefore make better sense to avoid inhalational anaesthesia rather than simply to add an antiemetic, which may still be needed to prevent or treat delayed vomiting.

Systematic search of the literature provides no evidence for a positive relationship. Furthermore, our data confirm that an increased BMI is not a risk factor for PONV. This negative finding is important as focussing on the relevant risk factors is needed to allow for an objective risk assessment of PONV.

Portable ultrasound provides efficient depiction of the interscalene plexus structures in obese patients and, when used for guidance of regional blockade, renders similar results as in patients of normal weight.

The focus on the role of non-technical skills such as communication, dynamic decision making, situational awareness and teamwork in emergency medicine has gained importance over the past few years. Especially during time-critical and complex treatment of severely injured patients in a multidisciplinary and interprofessional trauma-team these factors play an important role for patient-safety and process optimization and are a key factor influencing the perceived quality of a given scenario by the team members. Thus, apart from medical expertise and technical excellence of single actors within a trauma team, non-technical skills need to be incorporated in trainings for trauma management. For the improvement of non-technical skills, particularly team communication and teamwork, a simulator-based training represents a valuable tool. The technical performance of portable manikin-based simulators has improved tremendously during the last decade, which facilitates realistic and true-to-life multidisciplinary team-training in trauma management.

Systematic search of the literature provides no evidence for a positive relationship. Furthermore, our data confirm that an increased BMI is not a risk factor for PONV. This negative finding is important as focussing on the relevant risk factors is needed to allow for an objective risk assessment of PONV.