While the management of critically ill patients has traditionally been an undeveloped area of medicine, recent advances in drugs, surgical techniques, and medical equipment now allow patients to survive illnesses and disorders that previously were uniformly fatal. Unfortunately, the knowledge and techniques that are required to do this are not traditionally taught in medical school. Thus, medical errors in this population group are not uncommon and are more likely to have adverse, often fatal, consequences.

In 2001, physicians responsible for the care of the critically ill were introduced to a new program providing them with the tools to significantly decrease the number and severity of medical errors: the Acute Critical Events Simulation (ACES) Program, an intensive and highly interactive course on the acute resuscitation of critically ill patients and the management of crisis situations.

This book is a compendium to the ACES Program, containing its important background information and reference material while serving as an independent reference source for physicians and other health care professionals. With contributions by recognized physicians from across Canada, it presents the specifics of acute resuscitation in the context of crisis resource management and teaches readers life-saving resuscitation skills in a way that allows them to use their medical training more effectively.

With increasing doctor shortages forcing more physicians to manage acutely ill patients, this book will aid physicians looking for a simple yet useful text to help them manage critically ill patients in connection with the ACES Program. While the intended audience for the course is primarily emergency room doctors, family physicians, and senior medical residents, this collection is also applicable to nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists, and medical students.

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David T. Neilipovitz, MD, is a staff physician at the Ottawa Hospital (Civic Campus) and an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Ottawa.