Critical Care Medicine: Principles of Diagnosis and Management in the Adult, 5th Edition

By Joseph E. Parrillo, MD, FCCM and R. Phillip Dellinger, MD, MS

ISBN: 9780323446761

Pub Date: 16 Jan 2019

Reviewed by: David J. Dries, MD (University of Minnesota Medical School)

Description

This is fifth edition of a comprehensive overview of critical care management focused on the adult patient. This edition includes access to a website with an ebook version with additional resources. The previous edition was published in 2014.

Purpose

Critical care in the adult is covered with topics ranging from resuscitation to ethical issues such as withdrawal of support. This is a standalone review of the field.

Audience

Critical care providers at all levels are an appropriate audience for this work, authored by two past presidents of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The contributors are a collection of international authorities, with most from North America.

Features

Opening presentations describe the core technology of critical care, such as mechanical ventilation, hemodynamic monitors, and fluid management. Essential interventions in the ICU, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, are also discussed. Subsequent groups of chapters follow organ system subspecialties of medicine including surgery and anesthesiology. Initial clinical chapters feature cardiopulmonary critical care followed by neurological and abdominal organ support with particular emphasis on the gut, kidneys, and liver. Later chapters describe hematology and complications of oncologic problems. Administrative concerns, severity of illness scoring, psychiatric disorders, and ethics are among the final presentations. Chapters are clearly written and beautifully illustrated with multicolored line drawings and flow diagrams. A smaller number of radiographs also reproduce well. The table of contents groups chapters by character of content while a detailed subject index specifically identifies tables, figures and boxes containing relevant clinical information.

Assessment

This book continues as one of the leading general references in the discipline.

Chapters have been updated and the enhanced use of online resources allows a slightly smaller book despite the addition of content on topics including mechanical assist devices and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The concise, effective text is effectively supported by multicolor illustrations that identify clinical strategies.

 Doody’s Review Service Weighted Numerical Score: 90 – 4 Stars!