*The Oxford American Handbook of Critical Care* is one of a series of pocket-sized guides for medical specialties that focuses on the treatment of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).  This American rendition has been adapted from the third edition of the U.K. version by ICU physicians at the University of Pittsburgh.  Designed with medical students and residents in mind, the Oxford Handbook series features a sturdy vinyl cover that resists the side effects of daily use (such as dog-eared pages, cracked bindings, and coffee stains) that limit the lifespan of other pocket reference guides.  Inside, the topics are well-organized with the use of bulleted or numbered points and effective headings that allow this series to organize a lot of information in an easy-to-scan format. 

It's a good thing the information is easy to read, because related information is sometimes scattered throughout the book.  The book is broadly divided into the general sections of techniques, monitoring, drugs, and disorders; each of these sections are organized by system, such as cardiovascular or respiratory.  The last few chapters cover special topics such as poisoning, trauma, and end-of-life care.  The result is that a particular topic may be covered in multiple far-flung chapters.  Want to know about managing a patient in respiratory failure?  Try Chapter 21 for the causes of respiratory failure, Chapter 1 for a description of positive-pressure ventilators, Chapter 7 for respiratory monitoring, or Chapter 13 for respiratory stimulants.  This dissemination of information is the bane of many a medical reference source, and it underscores the difficulty of caring for a critically ill patient whose management rarely fits neatly into one chapter of any book. 

That being said, this book also offers practical information on a variety of common problems seen in the ICU and focuses on the fundamentals of managing a critically ill patient.  The monitoring chapter is particularly helpful for the medical student who may not be well-versed in the various machines that inhabit the ICU.  Moreover, some chapters give references for the key clinical trials that support current decision-making, thereby allowing students to review primary literature.  There is also plenty of space for the reader to write in his or her own notes, a by-product of the authors' strict adherence to starting new topics on the left-hand side of the page, regardless of the space actually needed for a given topic.  In fact, the size of the book could have been reduced by 10 percent had all the blank pages been omitted, thereby opening up a tantalizing 5mm of space in the precious real estate of the white coat pocket. 

In summary, the *Oxford American Handbook of Critical Care* offers basic, concise, and practical information for the medical student or resident.  The fact that the book focuses on topics that are encountered daily in the ICU makes it a good starting reference for the ICU rotation.