Advances in intensive and critical care medicine occur rapidly. Innovation, training and research are the pillars that support a process deriving from basic science and multiprofessional/multidisciplinary interventions. The APICE 2010 Yearbook highlights several innovations for optimising prevention and management measures for the critically ill by integrating diagnostic procedures with pharmacological and technological options. Considering that cerebral, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic dysfunctions occurring during serious illnesses or syndromes represent risk factors for patient survival, the final goal remains multifaceted: to improve standards and quality of care; to introduce the expanding concept of clinical governance and professionalism; to focus on the importance of ethical principles for establishing a process of patient-centered and evidence-based care. For these reasons, medical professionals must reach a consensus regarding the importance of continuing medical education.

Continuous update in critical care medicine is a real challenge due to the growing dimensions of its contents; these elements are the result of new research acquisitions, and of those clinical situations where the physician is able to intervene at a given moment, with the use of effective prevention techniques. They are also the result of new technologies able to define complex sub-clinical diagnostic aspects; lastly, they are the result of effective therapeutic techniques available, and of treatment strategies able to influence radically and positively the patient's clinical course. Critical care medicine is playing a key role in the most advanced environments, as it represents a cross-sectional field of action, involving several specialties, such as anesthesiology, general medicine, surgery, pediatrics.

This critical care medicine book substantially differs from others due to the range of peculiarities that characterize it. Since it deals with acute patients in critical conditions, this is, as it were, a 'borderline'book,in the sense that it is intended for those, who, in their activity, need a continuous and in-depth interdisciplinary approach to optimize the quality of the treatments offered to critically-ill patients. This book helps to have a better understanding of the current limits of human intervention and aims at supplying updated guidelines; in particular, it is intended for those who, although having to guarantee continuity and top-quality therapies, must decide when and why the collaboration with and intervention by experts is necessary.

The management of the critically ill patients has been in the past few years a discipline at the forefront of development which continues to make progress with the support of basic and clinical research. This work is a collection of material that deals with the management of critically ill patients, published on the occasion of the 13th APICE congress in November 1998, which celebrated 40 years of Critical Care Medicine.

Improving standards of care is a real challenge in Intensive Care Medicine. Bettering clinical performance, patient safety, risk management and audit represents the cornerstone for raising the quality of care in ICU patients. Communication is the platform from where to start to reach a consensus in an extremely crowded area, a unique multidisciplinary and multiprofessional environment in which quality of care and, ultimately, patient survival need to be ameliorated.

The end of the second millenium is distinguished for the increasing interest in the field of critical care medicine, not only among physicians and clinical scientists but also on the part of the mass media. This is an interdisciplinary area of medicine drawing upon the specialties of anesthesiology, internal medicine and surgery, and relying upon the essential contributions and support from basic research. Advances in critical care medicine depend on the application of new technologies to the clinic, the full integration of computers and informatics, the continual training of physicians and technicians, and the consideration of ethical issues in the clinical setting. Within this complex panorama of complementary approaches and viewpoints, it is apparent that critical care medicine is one of the best examples of evidence-based medicine.

Innovation, training and research are the pillars that support a process deriving from basic science and multi-professional/multidisciplinary interventions. The APICE 2012 yearbook deals with several innovations for optimising prevention and management measures for the critically ill, by integrating diagnostic procedures with pharmacological and technological options. Peri- and postoperative managements as well as treatment of surgical infections and of pain, new and old artificial ventilation strategies are some of the most relevant topics the volume deal with in this new edition. The volume focuses also on the improvement standards and quality of care; on the expanding concept of clinical governance and professionalism and on the importance of ethical principles for establishing a process of patient-centered and evidence-based care.

Provide optimal anesthetic care to your young patients with A Practice of Anesthesia in Infants and Children, 5th Edition, by Drs. Charles J. Cote, Jerrold Lerman, and Brian J. Anderson. 110 experts representing 10 different countries on 6 continents bring you complete coverage of the safe, effective administration of general and regional anesthesia to infants and children - covering standard techniques as well as the very latest advances. Find authoritative answers on everything from preoperative evaluation through neonatal emergencies to the PACU. Get a free laminated pocket reference guide inside the book! Quickly review underlying scientific concepts and benefit from expert information on preoperative assessment and anesthesia management, postoperative care, emergencies, and special procedures. Stay on the cutting edge of management of emergence agitation, sleep-disordered breathing and postoperative vomiting; the use of new devices such as cuffed endotracheal tubes and new airway devices; and much more. Familiarize yourself with the full range of available new drugs, including those used for premedication and emergence from anesthesia. Benefit from numerous new figures and tables that facilitate easier retention of the material; new insights from neonatologists and neonatal pharmacologists; quick summaries of each chapter; and more than 1,000 illustrations that clarify key concepts. Access the entire text online, fully searchable, at www.expertconsult.com, plus an extensive video library covering simulation, pediatric airway management, burn injuries, ultra-sound guided regional anesthesia, and much more; and new online-only sections, tables and figures.

The interest of researchers, clinicians, practitioners and surgeons in critical care medicine is growing. Clinical pharmacology and new technologies now allow more appropriate therapies, and the commitment of all those involved in this field is of fundamental importance for reaching high interventional standards, in both the prevention and treatment of critical conditions, but also for satisfying the concept of cost-effectiveness in critical care. In this volume advances in critical care medicine are described, including the application of new technologies in the clinical setting, the full integration of computers and informatics, and the continual training of physicians and technicians.