Nutrition is an important aspect of care for any patient entering the hospital, but the patient admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) is at an even higher risk for nutritional compromise. Nutrition affects all ages, from the neonate to the geriatric patient, and all patient populations. Evidence-based practice guidelines regarding appropriate nutritional support within the critical care setting are published. Yet, researchers continue to identify that despite published evidence, countless ICU patients continue to lack adequate and timely nutritional support on admission. Each of the authors in this issue promotes nutrition in their careers and individual practice areas, which brings knowledge from many different arenas throughout the nation. This issue discusses nutrition throughout the lifespan, special patient populations, implementation of guidelines, and how nutrition is being utilized as medical therapy.

This issue of Endocrinology Clinics brings the reader up to date on the important advances in research surrounding acute diabetic complications. Guest edited by Leonid Poretsky and Eliana Liao, the topics covered include retinopathy, neuropathy, gastrointestinal complications, diabetic foot, dental complications, dermatologic complications, and more.

Gastrointestinal dysfunction or injury is common in the critical care patient either as a primary diagnosis or as secondary symptoms. Several studies confirm that up to 62% of critical care patients exhibit at least one GI symptom for at least one day. In addition, recent studies have shown that GI problems are related to negative outcomes in the critical care patient. The articles in this issue are current and relevant to critical care patients today: Autoimmune Disease of the Gut in the Critical Care Patient; Nutrition Options in CCU Patients; Mesenteric Ischemia; Management of C-Diff in Critical Care Setting; Management of Acute GI Bleed; Acute Diverticulitis Management; GI Patient Skills Training in the ICU: SOFA assessment and recognizing GI symptoms; EBP with probiotics in treatment for antibiotic associated diarrhea in the ICU; GI Problems in the ICU with Patients with HIV/AIDs; Complications of GI Motility/GI Failure in the Critically Ill Patient; Untreated Gastroesophageal Reflux Patients in the ICU; Liver Transplant; Ecoli Complications in Critical Care-Pediatrics; and GI Traumatic injuries: GI Perforation. Being knowledgeable and skillful in the recognition and care for these problems is paramount to the critical care nurse.

This issue of Critical Care Nursing Clinics, Guest Edited by Debora Simmons, RN, MSN, CCRN, CCNS, will feature such article topics as: Cause Mapping Critical Events; Blood Bank Safety in the ICU; Patient Safety in Perinatal Care; High Risk Drugs in Critical Areas; Enteral Feeding Tubing Misconnections; Safe Practices for Enteral Nutrition; Negotiating Safety; Device Complexity and Human Factors; Decreasing Risk; Delirium in ICU; and Voice of the Patient.

Dr. Chapa has assembled top-notch authors to write clinical reviews on the important topic of psychologic issues in the ICU. The issue focuses not only psychologic issues of patients in the ICU but also on issues facing critical care nurses working in the ICU. Articles are devoted to the following topics: Caring for the Caregiver in the ICU; Delirium vs. Dementia in ICU; Pediatric Delirium in ICU; Sarcopenia and Psychosocial Variables in ICU; Impact of Early Mobility in ICU on Psychological Issues; Intensive Care Syndrome; PTSD in ICU Nurses; Burnout Syndrome; Management Strategies in the ICU to Improve Psychosocial outcomes; and Psychologic Issues of Patient Transition from Intensive Care to Palliative Care. Readers will come away with current information they need to provide quality care with positive patient outcomes.

This issue of Critical Care Clinics focuses on Gastrointestinal Critical Care. Articles include: Non variceal Upper Gastrointestinal bleeds; Lower Gastrointestinal bleeds; Mesenteric Ischemia; Peritonitis; The open abdomen and intra abdominal infections; Gut motility issues in critical illness; Gut as the motor of multiple organ dysfunction; Intra abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome; Abdominal circulatory interactions in critical illness; Severe acute pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis; and Nutrition in the critically ill.

This issue of Critical Care Nursing Clinics, Guest Edited by Janet Foster, PhD, RN, CNS, will focus on Wound Care, with article topics including: Wound management; wound debridement; acute wounds; nutrition and wound healing; biology of acute wound failure; psychological stress and wound healing; chronic wound management in the elderly; and adjuncts to preparing wounds for closure: growth factors, skin substitutes, negative pressure therapy and hyperbaric oxygen.

Guest editor Lena Napolitano has assembled and expert team of authors on the topic of Surgery in the ICU. Articles will focus on: Oxygen Support and Mechanical Ventilation Advances; Ventilator-associated Pneumonia – New Definitions;Optimal Strategies for Severe ARDS; Persistent Inflammation/Immunosuppression Syndrome; ABCDE Bundle in Critical Care;Renal Replacement Therapy in Acute Kidney Injury: Consensus?; Transfusion Advances in Critical Care; Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: ProCESS; ARISE: PROMISE – What is Optimal Resuscitation?; Nutritional Support in Critical Care: What is the Evidence?; Acute Kidney Injury and Outcomes; and Tracheostomy Update: When and How?

Critical care clinicians must be knowledgeable about the anatomic, physiologic, and biochemical processes that are critical to the restoration of a functioning microvascular affecting organ perfusion. These basic physiologic processes critical to tissue perfusion and cellular oxygenation are presented in this issue on Monitoring Tissue Perfusion and Oxygenation. A working knowledge of oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption at the microvascular level will provide critical information needed for clinicians to continuously question the adequacy of tissue perfusion given our current lack of microvascular bedside monitoring.

This issue contains a series of articles focused on various initiatives aimed at improving the quality of patient care delivery and promoting safe passage across the continuum of care. Exemplary, evidence-based nursing practice is the cornerstone of quality care, and this issue highlights many ways in which nurses have led changes to optimize patient outcomes. In addition, quality care enhances cost-effectiveness by reducing avoidable complications and diminishing avoidable hospital readmissions, a concept more important than ever due to value-based purchasing and the Affordable Care Act. Articles are specifically devoted to prevention of delirium in critical care patients, palliative care in the intensive care unit, prevention of pressure ulcers, fall prevention in high-risk patients, prevention readmissions, preventing sepsis mortality, and nursing interventions in the elderly critical care patient, to name a few.