ICU Management & Practice, ICU Volume 4 - Issue 2 - October 2004
Authors
Jean-Louis Vincent,
Head, Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Christian Marolt,
Publisher, CEO of Euromedical Communications SA
Dear Reader,
This is the first edition of ICU-Management. It has been produced in response to the intense interest shown by readers of Hospital Critical Care over the last three years in the practical and management aspects of critical care medicine.
The Journal deals with European developments, national news, and covers stories on subjects of practical interest to all stakeholders in critical care. Features on ICU management and individual country profiles complete the line up of this exciting new publishing venture.
ICU-Management, successor of Hospital Critical Care, fills a vital knowledge gap in Europe. ICU-Management is published in collaboration with the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM). Accordingly we are delighted to continue jointly as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher.
Almost 25 years ago, ISICEM welcomed 5 speakers and 200 participants to the first meeting. This year, at the 24th International Symposium, we welcomed more than 4700 participants from 83 countries together with some 200 physicians! ISICEM has grown steadily to become the largest and most important annual meeting of its kind. Indeed, in order to accommodate the numbers involved, we now convene at the Brussels Exhibition and Convention Centre in Heysel, next to the famous Atomium.
Intensive care medicine is a rapidly expanding, dynamic specialty, the subject of continuous change and improvement. Keeping up-todate in order to optimise patient care is difficult for the busy clinician. ISICEM facilitates this process of continuous education, in a productive environment that encourages individuals to discuss and exchange their own experience of ICU practice with colleagues from other countries, thus forging and promoting international collaboration.
Various session formats, including lectures, pro-con debates, tutorials, workshops, and round tables are used to provide delegates with the best possible learning experience, where the latest advances in pathophysiology, diagnosis, monitoring, and the management of critically ill patients are presented. While the main focus is on adult intensive care, paediatric needs are not overlooked with sessions targeted at various aspects of intensive care for children.
Preparations for the preliminary program for ISICEM’s 2005 Silver Anniversary Symposium are already well underway. Some of the key topics include the latest opinions and results about the ‘best’ mode of ventilation and ‘optimal’ ventilatory settings for patients with acute respiratory failure; the prospects for applying new genetics technology to diagnosis, disease classification and therapy in the ICU patient; results of the continuing search for effective therapies for the patient with severe sepsis including information on current and recently completed phase III clinical trials; presentation of new guidelines for various aspects of intensive care medicine including haemodynamic support in sepsis, management of acute heart failure and nutritional regimes; and finally, important new insights into the pathophysiology and management of acute traumatic brain injury.
The associated closed Round Table also promises to provide interesting material for thought-provoking debate and exchange as participants discuss how they see intensive care medicine developing over the next 10 years.
All physicians, nurses and other health professionals with an interest in critical care or emergency medicine are warmly invited to attend our Silver Anniversary Symposium. This Symposium will, I am sure, be even more successful and stimulating than its 24 predecessors, providing participants and faculty alike with opportunities to discuss, debate, and dissect the very latest developments in this rapidly changing field. It will arm delegates with new data to be shared with colleagues and used to improve patient care. ICU-Management will keep you continuously updated on Congress program developments, and following the event will report on the management and practice proceedings in detail.
