The ICU and Emergency Medicine Encyclopedia

A to Z answers for the moments that cannot wait.

The ICU and Emergency Medicine Encyclopedia is a full-color desk reference for residents, advanced students, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and practicing clinicians who care for critically ill adults. It gathers 450 entries, from the ABCDEF Bundle to Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment, into one alphabetical book you can open at the bedside, on call or before a shift.

Every entry follows the same clear pattern:

• A precise definition, with defining criteria named by body and year
• Why it matters: the physiology that explains what you see
• Assessment and interpretation, including the limits of each test
• Treatment principles: purpose, mechanism, risks and decision factors
• Clinical pearls and cross-references to related entries

Inside you will find:

• 76 major entries on core problems such as shock, sepsis, ARDS, mechanical ventilation, cardiac arrest, acute kidney injury and traumatic brain injury
• 80 full-color figures: waveform and ventilator diagrams, anatomical illustrations and ultrasound views
• Definitions and guidelines checked in October 2026, including the 2026 Surviving Sepsis Campaign adult guideline, SOFA-2 and the 2025 resuscitation guidelines
• Every entry checked against at least two authoritative sources
• Appendices with abbreviations, unit conversions, bedside calculations, a topical finder by organ system and presenting problem, and the sources cited
• An index of headwords, synonyms and abbreviations

Written for clinicians who want the reasoning behind a decision, not just the rule, it explains why a number matters, what a test can and cannot show, and where the evidence is still uncertain.

An educational reference. It does not replace clinical judgment, institutional protocols or current prescribing information, and it gives no drug doses.