CRC INFCT DIS CRIT CARE MED PDF

Preface

Infectious diseases continue to represent a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in the critical care unit. Infectious diseases maintain their preeminence in the critical care unit setting because of their frequency and importance in the critical care unit patient population. Since the first edition of Infectious Disease in Critical Care Medicine, there have been newly described infectious diseases to be considered in differential diagnosis, and new antimicrobial agents have been added to the therapeutic armamentarium. The second edition of Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine continues the clinical orientation of the first edition. Differential diagnostic considerations in infectious diseases continue to be the central focus of the second edition.

Clinicians caring for acutely ill patients in the critical care unit are confronted with the common problem of differentiating noninfectious disease mimics from their infectious disease counterparts. For this reason, the differential diagnosis of noninfectious diseases remains an important component of infectious diseases in the second edition. The second edition of Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine emphasizes differential clinical features that enable clinicians to sort out complicated diagnostic problems.

Because critical care unit patients often have complicated/interrelated multisystem disorders, subspecialty expertise is essential for optimal patient care. Early utilization of infectious disease consultation is important to assure proper application/ interpretation of appropriate laboratory tests and for the selection/optimization of antimicrobial therapy. Selecting the optimal antimicrobial for use in the critical care unit is vital. As important is the optimization of antimicrobial dosing to take into account the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic attributes of the antibiotic. The infectious disease clinician, in addition to optimizing dosing considerations, is also able to evaluate potential antimicrobial side effects as well as drug–drug interactions, which may affect therapy. Infectious disease consultations can be helpful in differentiating colonization ordinarily not treated from infection that should be treated. Physicians who are not infectious disease clinicians lack the necessary sophistication in clinical infectious disease training, medical microbiology, pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics, and diagnostic experience. Physicians in critical care units should rely on infectious disease clinicians as well as other consultants to optimize care for these acutely ill patients.

The second edition of Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine has been streamlined while maintaining its clinical focus. Again, the authors have been selected for their expertise and experience. The contributors are world-class teachers/ clinicians who have, in their writings, imparted their clinical experience for the benefit of the critical care unit physicians and their patients. The second edition of Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine remains the only book dealing with infections in critical care.