Intensive Care Medicine launches a call for papers on perioperative critical care

Excerpt

The practice of perioperative medicine is one of the most illustrative approaches in medicine of the famous proverb “prevention is better than cure”. Modern “perioperative critical care” describes the medical care of patients at high risk from the time of the first anesthesia consultation, which evaluates risk factors for postoperative complications through the operative period and eventually to full recovery. This pathway may include an intensive care unit (ICU) stay [1]. Contrary to the management of typical patients admitted to medical ICUs, where admissions are largely unplanned, the aim of perioperative medicine is to optimize the management of the surgical patient and to avoid ICU admission if possible. If admission to the ICU is necessary, it is often planned and careful preoperative assessment and intraoperative care can lead to improved outcome. In the practice of perioperative medicine, the surgeon, anesthesiologists, intensivists, and medical consultants all work in concert for the patient’s benefit. …