Textbook of Pediatric Critical Care [antikvár]

Preface Now comes pediatric critical care bringing a new way of looking at the critically ill child: comprehensive, integrated, and outcome-focused. The breadth of critical care is the breadth of critical illness and is limited only by death or wellness. The depth of critical care ranges from intranuclear to societal levels. It encompasses physiology, pharmacology, cardiology, and pulmonary medicine. Critical care is not anesthesiology, neonatology, traumatology, nor cardiac surgery—but, it involves all of these specialties. The field emerged from practical management issues of resuscitation, monitoring, concentration of resources, and bedside titration of therapy. These remain cornerstones but are supplemented by considerations of pansystemic conditions like sepsis, nutritional and multiple organ system failure, and even death itself. Outcome prediction, intercellular communication, economics, and interaction of the health care givers at the bedside are new considerations. The target organ remains the brain, while cardiovascular and pulmonary support are mainstays. The recognition that the return to homeostasis of all the organ systems is essential to achieve a satisfactory outcome of the patient characterizes modern critical care thought. That all body systems are interactive is axiomatic. The Textbook of Pediatric Critical Care is a humble effort to assist the care giver in his or her pursuits. It is comprehensive and integrative and has the luxury of drawing on the expertise of superb authors from around the world. No chapter is less important than another. They should all be read. I am indebted to the authors for their efforts. Peter R. Holbrook, M.D.