This book brings together personal narratives from critical care medicine specialists around the world. Most of these physicians started in critical care at or before the exponential increase in technological modalities to reverse or sustain organ function, have seen patient care both ways, and have worked as many as 30 years or more at the bedside. The narratives are organized around such themes as : how and why these physicians entered the discipline of critical care; what was critical care like in the beginning; how they have experienced the flood of innovations in critical care; why they decided to retire (or not); and what their retirement options have been (or not). Composed by influential critical care medicine specialists, The Intensivist’s Challenge: Aging and Career Growth in a High-Stress Medical Specialty is a valuable resource bringing together a discussion of the nature and problems of aging as they apply to physicians in a high-stress occupation, while assessing the value of clinical experience at the bedside in a world increasingly full of soulless technology.

The first medical specialty selection guide written by residents for students! Provides an inside look at the issues surrounding medical specialty selection, blending first-hand knowledge with useful facts and statistics, such as salary information, employment data, and match statistics. Focuses on all the major specialties and features firsthand portrayals of each by current residents. Also includes a guide to personality characteristics that are predominate with practitioners of each specialty. “A terrific mixture of objective information as well as factual data make this book an easy, informative, and interesting read.” --Review from a 4th year Medical Student

This comprehensive book provides practical guidance on the care of the critical patient in the emergency department. It focuses on the ED physician or provider working in a community hospital where, absent the consulting specialists found in a large academic center, the provider must evaluate and stabilize critically ill and injured patients alone. Structured in an easily accessible format, chapters present fundamental information in tables, bullet points, and flow diagrams. Emergency medicine scenarios covered across 38 chapters include acute respiratory failure, spinal cord Injuries, seizures and status epilepticus, care of the newborn, and end-of-life care. Written by experts in the field, Emergency Department Critical Care is an essential resource for practicing emergency physicians and trainees, internists and family physicians, advance practice nurses, and physician’s assistants who provide care in emergency departments and urgent care centers.

The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

Following up his best-selling Board Stiff TEE & Too manuals for the oral boards in anesthesiology, Dr. Gallagher has produced a step-by-step how-to guide on conducting an anesthesia simulation. Topics include which equipment to use as well as suggestions for simulation scenarios that will help train your staff with a theoretical basis for handling even the most unexpected complications. This simulation guide with video clips helps to close the gaps that may result when abnormal situations are not recognized quickly enough or the response to them is haphazard and slow. The result is a highly effective, enjoyable, and affordable tool on this increasingly important way to ensure resources are being managed effectively. Concise and complete guide to all the issues relevant to anesthesia simulation Rich in clinical scenarios and models Experiences from state-of-the-art simulation center Employs latest CPR and other practice guidelines

"This book is a 'must have' resource in every physician/clinician practice setting."--Martin Grabois, M.D., Professor of PM&R, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston,TX. Dr. Vasudevan draws upon an accumulated reservoir of clinical expertise to provide readers with an up-to-date and highly readable guide to multidisciplinary pain management. . . . If only this book was available years ago"--Francis J. Keefe, PhD. Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Anesthesiology, Duke University, Durham, NC. This practical volume brings multidisciplinary innovations to the treatment of chronic pain. It argues expertly for the benefits of a biopsychosocial approach over current pain treatments more suited to acute care. The author's insights into the complexity of chronic pain and critiques of common but inconsistent unimodality pain management methods underscore the need for targeted multi-disciplinary pain programs. Among a wealth of useful clinical nuggets, readers will find guidance on adding "virtual" support to a pain management team, details on ways patients can take an active role in dealing with their chronic pain, and the original concept of the "back attack." Included in the coverage: Pain theories and factors behind chronic pain—its application in treatment. Cognitive behavioral coping strategies. Treatments that have questionable or controversial evidence. Evaluation of disability in patients with chronic pain. Creating a virtual multidisciplinary team. Common pain problems: low back pain, complex regional pain syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia. Multidisciplinary Pain Management will enhance the work of diverse practitioners, including health and clinical psychologists, family and other primary care physicians, psychiatrists, occupational and physical therapists, and rehabilitation specialists.

Improving our nation's healthcare system is a challenge which, because of its scale and complexity, requires a creative approach and input from many different fields of expertise. Lessons from engineering have the potential to improve both the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery. The fundamental notion of a high-performing healthcare system-one that increasingly is more effective, more efficient, safer, and higher quality-is rooted in continuous improvement principles that medicine shares with engineering. As part of its Learning Health System series of workshops, the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Value and Science-Driven Health Care and the National Academy of Engineering, hosted a workshop on lessons from systems and operations engineering that could be applied to health care. Building on previous work done in this area the workshop convened leading engineering practitioners, health professionals, and scholars to explore how the field might learn from and apply systems engineering principles in the design of a learning healthcare system. Engineering a Learning Healthcare System: A Look at the Future: Workshop Summary focuses on current major healthcare system challenges and what the field of engineering has to offer in the redesign of the system toward a learning healthcare system.

Fully revised and updated, the Oxford Handbook of Emergency Medicine is the definitive, best-selling guide for all of the common conditions that present to the emergency department. Whether you work in emergency medicine, or just want to be prepared, this book will be your essential guide. Following the latest clinical guidelines and evidence, written and reviewed by experts, this handbook will ensure you are up to date and have the confidence to deal with all emergency presentations, practices, and procedures. In line with the latest developments in the field, such as infection control, DNR orders, advanced directives and learning disability, the book also includes new sections specifically outlining patient advice and information, as well as new and revised vital information on paediatrics and psychiatry. For all junior doctors, specialist nurses, paramedics, clinical students, GPs and other allied health professionals, this rapid-reference handbook will become a vital companion for both study and practice.