Handbook of Critical and Intensive Care Medicine (2nd ed.)

Why write a book on the management of critically ill patients? Over the past few decades we have seen an enormous growth in the number of intensive care units (ICU) across the world. Indeed, it is estimated that a large proportion of health care expenses are devoted to patients in these specialized units. Medical students, r- idents, fellows, attending physicians, critical care nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and other health-care providers (irrespective of their ultimate ?eld of pr