Although its roots date back to the early decades of the 20th century, critical care medicine did not emerge as a specialty in medicine until the 1970's. Over the last 30 years or so, the field of critical care medicine has grown tremendously and there is now a solid body of scientific information that forms the foundation for the practice of critical care medicine. But, now as physicians and hospitals around the world focus to an ever greater extend on providing high quality care, the practice of critical care medicine will continue to grow in visibility and importance among clinicians and the general public as well.

This book seeks to identify the trends in critical care medicine that will form the basis for practice over the next ten years. Predicting the future is always risky. Nevertheless, the ideas articulated in this book are likely to serve as a road map for intensivists, hospital administrators and governmental leaders interested in healthcare, as they seek to improve the quality and efficiency of hospital-based services.

Klappentext

Over the last 30 years or so, the field of critical care medicine has grown tremendously and there is now a solid body of scientific information that forms the foundation for the practice of critical care medicine. This volume seeks to identify the trends in critical care medicine that will form the basis for practice over the next ten years. Predicting the future is always risky. Nevertheless, the ideas articulated in this book are likely to serve as a road map for intensivists, hospital administrators and governmental leaders interested in healthcare, as they seek to improve the quality and efficiency of hospital-based services.

Inhalt
Setting the Stage.- Setting The Scene.- Managing and Leading in Critical Care.- Critical Care from 50,000 Feet.- Expectations Around Intensive Care 10 Years On.- The Safety and Quality Agenda in Critical Care Medicine.- The Challenge of Emerging Infections and Progressive Antibiotic Resistance.- Technology Assessment.- Trends in Pediatric and Neonatal Critical Care in the Next 10 Years.- Diagnostic, Therapeutic and Information Technologies 10 Years from Now.- The Patient Process as the Basis for the Design of an ICU.- Information Technology.- Diagnostic Technologies to Assess Tissue Perfusion and Cardiorespiratory Performance.- Microcirculatory Distress in Critically Ill Patients: Meaning and Future.- Managing Infection: From Agar Plate to Genome Scan.- Immunological Monitoring, Functional Genomics and Proteomics.- Improving Organ Function.- The Profile and Management of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.- The Ventilator of Tomorrow.- My NeuroICU 10 Years from Now.- Disaster Medicine.- How Might Critical Care Medicine be Organized and Regulated?.- Hospital and Medical School Organization of Critical Care Services.- Physician Staffing in the ICU 10 Years from Now.- ICU Research One Decade From Now.- Organizing Clinical Critical Care Research and Implementing the Results.- Funding and Accounting Systems.- Measuring Performance.- Ethics and End-of-life Care.- Rationing in the ICU: Fear, Fiction and Fact.- Training.- Training PathwaysPhysician and NonPhysician.- Simulation Training in Critical Care Medicine.- The Critical Care 'Agenda'.- The Agenda for the Intensivist.- Transforming Adult Critical Care Service Delivery in Ontario.