The book Cardiac Intensive Care is written by David A. Morrow. The first edition of Cardiac Intensive Care was published in 1998 and the second in 2010. New editions of the textbooks attempt to keep pace with rapidly changing patient demographics, a new understanding of pathophysiology, and advances in treatment. Textbook formats evolve as technology improves and our understanding of how and where students actually learn grows.
The third edition of Cardiac Intensive Care is no exception. Since all patient care begins with an ethical foundation and the ability to perform an accurate history and physical examination, these issues are addressed early in the book. I continue to believe that a solid foundation in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease is mandatory to make accurate diagnoses and appropriate treatment decisions. Therefore, the first chapters of the new edition focus on the scientific foundations of cardiac intensive care. However, as the field has evolved, chapters on specific topics such as non-ST-segment myocardial infarction, unstable angina, coronary spasm, complications of interventional procedures, emergency coronary bypass surgery, all common unit admission diagnoses in cardiac intensive care units (CICU) in the past—are no longer relevant to the current CICU and have been omitted. The new edition has chapters on takotsubo cardiomyopathy, acute myocarditis, cardiorenal syndrome, electrical storm, distributive shock, and temporary mechanical circulatory support devices, all of which are commonly found in today’s CICU. In recognition of the complexity and advanced disease of today’s CICU patient populations, along with recognition of the limitations of care and our obligation to ensure the quality of life rather than quantity of life, we have added a chapter about palliative care. We have also added audio clips of heart sounds and videos of diagnostic procedures and images in the online version of this book, available at ExpertConsult.com. My hope is to make this textbook more of a living document than previous editions, with online and social media discussions on topics relevant to cardiac intensive care.
Topics of this Edition
Overview of Cardiac Intensive Care
With the goal of improving survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest after myocardial infarction, in 1961 Desmond Julian, the legendary British cardiologist, proposed a “special intensive care unit…staffed with appropriate expertise 24 hours a day, since it is not reasonable to expect good results when the care of patients is entrusted to [the] inexperienced”. With core principles of regionalized specialty care, collaborative teamwork with skilled nursing, and continuous physiologic monitoring, early coronary care units have been reported to achieve impressive reductions in mortality after myocardial infarction. Since then, the characteristics of the patients we see, the medical problems we encounter, and the technologies we deploy in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) have changed radically. Cardiac critical care’s rapid advance into ever-increasing complexity requires that those who supervise or practice in the CICU embrace a progressive culture of continuous redesign and quality improvement; doing so effectively also requires the physician to maintain a broad fund of knowledge that stays ahead of the curve while drawing on the fundamentals of cardiovascular medicine and critical care.
Description:
| Book Name | Cardiac Intensive Care |
| Author of Book | David A. Morrow |
| Edition | 3rd |
| Language | English |
| Format | |
| Category | Nursing Books |
