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Background: Home visits are part of general practice work in Germany. Within the context of an expanding elderly population and a decreasing number of general practitioner (GPs), open questions regarding the organisation and adequacy of GPs’ care in immobile patients remain. To answer these questions, we will conduct a representative primary data collection concerning contents and organisation of GPs’ home visits in 2014. Because this study will require considerable efforts for documentation and thus substantial involvement by participating GPs, we conducted a pilot study to see whether such a study design was feasible. Methods: We used a mixed methods design with two study arms in a sample of teaching GPs of the University Halle. The quantitative arm evaluates participating GPs and documentation of home visits. The qualitative arm focuses on reasons for non-participation for GPs who declined to take part in the pilot study. Results: Our study confirms previously observed reasons for non-response of GPs in the particular setting of home visits including lack of time and/or interest. In contrast to previous findings, monetary incentives were not crucial for GPs participation. Several factors influenced the documentation rate of home visits and resulted in a discrepancy between the numbers of home visits documented versus those actually conducted. The most frequently reported problem was related to obtaining patient consent, especially when patients were unable to provide informed consent due to cognitive deficits. Conclusions: The results of our feasibility study provide evidence for improvement of the study design and study instruments to effectively conduct a documentation-intensive study of GPs doing home visits. Improvement of instructions and questionnaire regarding time variables and assessment of the need for home visits will be carried out to increase the reliability of future data. One particularly important methodological issue yet to be resolved is how to increase the representativeness of home visit care by including the homebound patient population that is unable to provide informed consent.

Background: Home visits are part of general practice work in Germany. Within the context of an expanding elderly population and a decreasing number of general practitioner (GPs), open questions regarding the organisation and adequacy of GPs’ care in immobile patients remain. To answer these questions, we will conduct a representative primary data collection concerning contents and organisation of GPs’ home visits in 2014. Because this study will require considerable efforts for documentation and thus substantial involvement by participating GPs, we conducted a pilot study to see whether such a study design was feasible. Methods: We used a mixed methods design with two study arms in a sample of teaching GPs of the University Halle. The quantitative arm evaluates participating GPs and documentation of home visits. The qualitative arm focuses on reasons for non-participation for GPs who declined to take part in the pilot study. Results: Our study confirms previously observed reasons for non-response of GPs in the particular setting of home visits including lack of time and/or interest. In contrast to previous findings, monetary incentives were not crucial for GPs participation. Several factors influenced the documentation rate of home visits and resulted in a discrepancy between the numbers of home visits documented versus those actually conducted. The most frequently reported problem was related to obtaining patient consent, especially when patients were unable to provide informed consent due to cognitive deficits. Conclusions: The results of our feasibility study provide evidence for improvement of the study design and study instruments to effectively conduct a documentation-intensive study of GPs doing home visits. Improvement of instructions and questionnaire regarding time variables and assessment of the need for home visits will be carried out to increase the reliability of future data. One particularly important methodological issue yet to be resolved is how to increase the representativeness of home visit care by including the homebound patient population that is unable to provide informed consent.

The presentation describes partial results from an industrial project in which a transmission test bench from ZF Prüfsysteme was decoupled from the foundation in terms of vibration using commercial PU foam material ('Sylomer' SR220 from Getzner). The presentation shows how this material was extensively tested by the manufacturer and characterized in numerous data sheets in order to enable the engineer to perform a simple, operating point-dependent dynamic design using clear diagrams and the classic equation for a single-mass oscillator. However, if a more complex analysis is to be carried out using the finite element method, e.g. to determine all 6 rigid body shapes and natural frequencies of the dynamically decoupled test rig and not just the purely vertical natural shape/frequency, the apparent elasticity and shear moduli specified in the manufacturer's data sheets must be converted into true values for the corresponding operating points, which can then be used in a linear FE calculation. For this purpose, FEM models of the elastomer test specimens are generated for different shape factors. The conversion of the apparent to the true characteristic values is then carried out using the optimizer available in the PTC software “Creo Simulate” in a so-called 'feasibility study' and the results are discussed. It can be seen that the true moduli of elasticity and transverse strain coefficients are only slightly or no longer dependent on the form factor. Depending on the density of the PU foam, the transverse strain coefficient is also significantly lower than 0.5. The true shear modulus is practically identical to the measured shear modulus, as a pure biaxial stress and strain state occurs in the shear specimens, in which strain restraints due to transverse strain plays no role - quite unlike in the specimens loaded in the normal (compression) direction, in which triaxial compression stress states occur due to transverse strain restraints. Finally, the true material properties determined in this way are used for an exemplary modal analysis of the entire, idealized test rig on the strip foundation using the finite element method. The error is evaluated if the apparent modulus of elasticity and a Poisson ratio of zero is used instead, so that a simple evaluation and error estimation of analysis results is possible in practical applications. / Der Vortrag beschreibt Teilergebnisse aus einem industriellen Projekt, in dem ein Getriebeprüfstand der ZF Prüfsysteme schwingungstechnisch über kommerzielles PU- Schaummaterial („Sylomer“ SR220 der Firma Getzner) vom Fundament abgekoppelt wurde. Der Vortrag stellt dar, wie dieser Werkstoff vom Hersteller umfangreich getestet und in zahlreichen Datenblättern charakterisiert wurde, um dem Ingenieur schließlich eine einfache, betriebspunktabhängige dynamische Auslegung mittels übersichtlicher Diagramme und der klassischen Gleichung für einen Einmassenschwinger zu ermöglichen. Soll jedoch eine aufwendigere Analyse mittels der Methode der Finiten Elemente durchgeführt werden, z.B. um alle 6 Starrkörperformen und Eigenfrequenzen des dynamisch abgekoppelten Prüfstandes zu bestimmen und nicht nur die rein vertikale Eigenform/Eigenfrequenz, müssen die in den Herstellerdatenblättern angegeben formzahlabhängigen scheinbaren Elastizitäts- und Schubmoduli in wahre Werte für die entsprechenden Betriebspunkte umgerechnet werden, die dann in einer linearen FE-Rechnung verwendet werden können. Dafür werden FEM-Modelle der Elastomer-Probekörper für verschiedene Formfaktoren erzeugt. Die Umrechnung der scheinbaren in die wahren Kennwerte wird anschließend mittels des in der PTC-Software „Creo Simulate“ vorhandenen Optimierers in einer sogenannten „Machbarkeitsstudie“ durchgeführt und die Ergebnisse diskutiert. Es zeigt sich, dass die wahren E-Moduli und Querdehnzahlen nur noch gering bzw. nicht mehr vom Formfaktor abhängen. Je nach Dichte des PU-Schaums stellt sich auch eine Querdehnzahl von deutlich kleiner als 0,5 ein. Der wahre Schubmodul ist praktisch identisch wie der gemessene Schubmodul, da in den Schubproben ein reiner zweiachsiger Spannungs- und Dehnungszustand auftritt, in dem Dehnungsbehinderung durch Querdehnung keine Rolle spielt – ganz anders als in den in Normalenrichtung (Druck-) belasteten Proben, in denen durch die Querdehnungs- behinderung dreiachsige Spannungszustände auftreten. Schließlich werden die so bestimmten wahren Werkstoffkennwerte für eine exemplarische Modalanalyse des gesamten, idealisierten Prüfstandes auf den Streifenfundamenten mittels der Methode der Finiten Elemente verwendet. Der Fehler wird bewertet, wenn man stattdessen den scheinbaren E-Modul und eine Querdehnzahl von Null verwendet, so dass in der Anwendungspraxis eine einfache Bewertung und Fehlerabschätzung von Analyseergebnissen möglich ist.