Organization and physician education in critical care medicine
The goal of critical care medicine is to improve care for acute life threatening illnesses and injuries, leading to increased salvage of life with human mentation. Recent advances in the knowledge and technology of acute care still await application through regional emergency and critical care medicine systems, all components of which must be upgraded and coordinated. Close cooperation among physicians committed to emergency care and intensive care at the hospital level and for community wide organization of care is essential. The trend for critical care medicine to become a subspecialty of anesthesiology, medicine, pediatrics, or surgery is viable. There is not general agreement at this time concerning the definition and scope of critical care medicine. Combined emergency care and critical care education by interdisciplinary programs should be upgraded for medical students and residents in all clinical disciplines. CCM followship training programs should be expanded to meet manpower needs for ICU leadership, to improve standards in all components of the emergency and critical care medicine system, and to foster acute care related research. All anesthesiologists should be educated to the capability of functioning as consultants in resuscitation and respiratory intensive care. Their full or most time involvement as leaders or team members in critical care medicine will depend on the individual's competence, interest, availability, and financial considerations. (120 references are cited)