This book is one of the first to comprehensively summarise the latest thinking and research in the rapidly evolving field of quality management in intensive care. Quality indicators and outcome measures are discussed with a practical focus on patient-centred, evidence-based implementation for safer and more effective clinical practice. Chapters on topics such as teambuilding, patient satisfaction, mortality and morbidity, and electronic management systems are organised into three sections, covering quality management at the scale of the individual patient, the intensive care unit, and the national and international level. Written by a team of over forty international experts in the specialty, with editors who have been heavily involved for many years with the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the book reflects commonly accepted goals and guidelines for best practice, and will be valuable for practitioners worldwide. The ideal one-stop resource for intensive care physicians as well as ICU and hospital managers.

The global trend of increasingly ageing societies and long term illnesses has meant a growth in demand for intensive care resources. This book advises on leadership and organizational development of intensive care units, in order to give best practices for governance, performance, emergency response and safety. Written by international experts in the field, each chapter allows researchers, clinicians and service providers worldwide to be able to refer to this single reference book. In seven parts, the volume will tackle aspects of intensive care management in both global and local contexts, and interrogate the key concerns that service providers face. It works as an informative guide for the practical administration of intensive care, as well as being international in its design and information.

Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.

This authoritative reference published under the auspices of the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (ASCCA) is now in its Second Edition. More than 100 internationally recognized experts present state-of-the-art strategies for successful, cost-effective perioperative care and management of acutely ill patients.This thoroughly revised edition features many distinguished new contributors from anesthesiology, critical care medicine, internal medicine, surgery, and pediatrics. Timely new chapters cover medical informatics, evidence-based medicine, human genomics, research in critical care medicine, and imaging in the ICU. Chapters on acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, and other diseases have been rewritten to reflect recent technological and therapeutic breakthroughs.

A new multimedia e-dition package includes the book and CD-ROM plus access to the continuously updated website! The website (http://www.criticalcaretext.com) also offers links to important websites, calculators, the full text online, and all the illustrations--downloadable for presentations. A completely new editorial team presents the radical revision to this leading critical care text, previously edited by Shoemaker et al. Today's best coverage of both adult and pediatric critical care, with contributions from an impressive roster of world experts. In addition to numerous new chapters and many extensively rewritten ones, it features a completely new section on commonly encountered problems and a new, more user-friendly organization. Covers both adult and pediatric critical care. Features the authority of the top names in critical care from around the world, including an outstanding new editorial team as well as authors who are among the most highly respected researchers, instructors, and clinicians in the field. Offers a brand-new section that provides quick access to practical guidance on the problems most frequently encountered in the ICU. Explores hot new topics such as Inter- and Intra-Hospital Transport, Disaster Medicine for the ICU Physician, and Teaching Critical Care. Provides a new, more user-friendly organization. Presents only the most essential references within the text, with the rest provided on the enclosed CD-ROM. Is available in a multimedia package that combines the book with access to a fully searchable, continuously updated web site!. Your purchase entitles you to access the web site until the next edition is published, or until the current edition is no longer offered for sale by Elsevier, whichever occurs first. If the next edition is published less than one year after your purchase, you will be entitled to online access for one year from your date of purchase. Elsevier reserves the right to offer a suitable replacement product (such as a downloadable or CD-ROM-based electronic version) should access to the web site be discontinued.

The Oxford Desk Reference: Critical Care allows easy access to evidence-based materials on commonly encountered critical care problems for quick consultation to ensure the optimum management of a particular condition. A concise reference book, it collates key recommendations and presents them in an easily accessible and uniform way.

We are honored to present the second edition of Surgical Intensive Care Medicine. Our first edition was considered to be an important contribution to the critical care literature and received excellent reviews from Critical Care Medicine, Chest, and Anesthesiology. In the second edition, the basic organization of the book remains unchanged, being composed of 60 carefully selected chapters divided into 11 sections. The book begins with general topics in primary intensive care, such as airway management and vascular cannulation, followed by categories based on medical and surgical subspecialties. While the chapters discuss definitions, pathophysiology, clinical course, complications, and prognosis, the primary emphasis is devoted to patient management. The contents of the current edition have been comprehensively upgraded and the chapters retained from the first edition have been thoroughly updated, revised, or rewritten. In this second edition, some new topics have been added including Postoperative Care of the Obese Patient, Postoperative Care of the Pancreas Transplant Patient, Optimization of High-Risk Surgical Patients, Post- erative Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome, Ethics and End of Life Issues, Improving the ICU, and Continuous Medical Education in Intensive Care Medicine. We are extremely fortunate to have high-quality contributors, many of whom are nationally and internationally recognized researchers, speakers, and practitioners in Cri- cal Care Medicine. An important feature of this latest edition is the geographical diversity of its authors. Most are based in the United States, but colleagues from Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, Portugal, and Australia have also made notable contributions.

The Yearbook compiles the most recent, widespread developments of experimental and clinical research and practice in one comprehensive reference book. The chapters are written by well recognized experts in the field of intensive care and emergency medicine. It is addressed to everyone involved in internal medicine, anesthesia, surgery, pediatrics, intensive care and emergeny medicine.

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

With each edition, ACCCN's Critical Care Nursing has built on its highly respected reputation. Its contributors aim to encourage and challenge practising critical care nurses and students to develop world-class critical care nursing skills in order to ensure delivery of the highest quality care. Endorsed by the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN), this 3rd edition presents the expertise of foremost critical care leaders and features the most recent evidence-based research and up-to-date advances in clinical practice, technology, procedures and standards. Expanded to reflect the universal core elements of critical care nursing practice authors, Aitken, Marshall and Chaboyer, have retained the specific information that captures the unique elements of contemporary critical care nursing in Australia, New Zealand and other similar practice environments. Structured in three sections, ACCCN's Critical Care Nursing, 3rd Edition addresses all aspects of critical care nursing, including patient care and organisational issues, while highlighting some of the unique and complex aspects of specialty critical care nursing practice, such as paediatric considerations, trauma management and organ donation. Presented in three sections: - Scope of Critical Care - Principles and Practice of Critical Care - Speciality Practice Focus on concepts that underpin practice - essential physical, psychological, social and cultural care New case studies elaborate on relevant care topics Research vignettes explore a range of topics Practice tips highlight areas of care particularly relevant to daily clinical practice Learning activities support knowledge, reflective learning and understanding Additional case studies with answers available on evolve NEW chapter on Postanaesthesia recovery Revised coverage of metabolic and nutritional considerations for the critically ill patient Aligned with the NEW ACCCN Standards for Practice