Edited by J.J. Marini and A. Wheeler
Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Pages: 708. Price: £30.23. ISBN: 978-0781798396
In this fourth edition of Critical Care Medicine, the authors have laid out a thorough overview of intensive care unit (ICU) principles, written for practising clinicians, and principally aimed at students and residents on critical care rotations. The authors correctly suggest that this is a book to be read at leisure to enhance the understanding of the physiological principles essential for ICU practice: these will always remain, whereas protocols and recommendation may well come and go. The benefits of the joint authorship (there are only a few chapters with contributing authors) undoubtedly gives the book literary flow and lack of repetition, although it may also have its limitations.
The book is divided into two sections: the first includes chapters covering critical care techniques and methods; the second, acute medical and surgical emergences common in everyday ICU practice. Useful key points are listed at the start of each chapter, and although references are not referred to within the text, useful suggested further reading …