Journal of Surgical Research 157, 136–137 (2009)

BOOK REVIEW

Avoiding Common ICU ErrorsEdited by Lisa Marcucci, Elizabeth Martinez, Elliot Haut,

Anthony Slonim, and Jose Suarez. Philadelphia: Wolters

Kluwer/Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. 2007. ISBN: 978-

0-7817-6739-2. 846 pages, softcover, $55.00.

The intensive care unit (ICU) is an area of the hospitalthat involves rapid and complicated medical decisionmaking. Despite the best efforts of all involved, theICU remains a potentially dangerous place with themost vulnerable patients. While great strides havebeen made towards improving patient safety since theInstitute of Medicine’s ‘‘To Err is Human’’ report,improvements are still needed.

Avoiding Common ICU Errors is a compilation of ex-pert reviews and practical recommendations on how toavoid and manage the most common ICU errors andside-step many of the inherent dangers in critical caremedicine. This book is a convenient, accurate, and prac-tical step towards creating an ICU free of unnecessaryrisk. In addition, this manual complements more indepth critical care texts by providing specific answersin a rapidly accessible format.

Divided into 14 sections ranging from commonlyused medications and imaging tests to neurology, nu-trition, shock, and fluid management, the 318 chap-ters (846 pages) let the reader know exactly what iscovered. The book even contains sections on burnsand the pregnant patient. The straightforward, essen-tially free standing chapter titles with names like‘‘Don’t treat lactic acidosis with bicarbonate’’ doubleas the main point of each short, often one- to two-page chapter. Furthermore, review of the text revealsthat the editors clearly intend this book to be refer-enced to answer specific clinical questions. Readersare not necessarily expected to make a cover-to-coverpass through the book. Chapters are authored by res-idents, fellows, and staff in a variety of fields of medi-cine ranging from anesthesiology and surgery tofamily medicine, urology, pathology, and infectiousdisease. Contributions from pharmacists, speech pa-

0022-4804/09 $36.00� 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

136

thologists, occupational therapists, and nurses alsoadd to the impact of this book, providing even more in-formation about avoiding missteps.

Each chapter in Avoiding Common ICU Errors issuccinctly organized and includes a brief backgroundsection that rapidly refreshes the reader’s memory,setting the stage for the information to follow. Struc-tured as expert opinions, the chapters are supremelypractical in nature. Pathophysiology of disease pro-cesses is discussed only where applicable to the appro-priate clinical management. Pertinent scoringcriteria, differential diagnoses, and relevant radio-graphic images are included to help illustrate the sec-tion author’s point. At the conclusion of each chapter,several references are listed to allow the reader todelve deeper into the topic covered. The goal of thistext appears to be to provide the reader with rapidlyobtainable information necessary to properly manageactively treated patients and astutely avoid commonpitfalls.

While Avoiding Common ICU Errors is generallyvery comprehensive, one should note that the text fo-cuses on the adult patient; sections on the neonataland pediatric intensive care units are not included.While this decision is reasonable on the part of the ed-itors, as inclusion of neonatal intensive care unit(NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) sec-tions would likely have doubled the length, the readershould understand the scope of the text. A second lim-itation of this book is the brevity and problem cen-tered nature of the chapters, which are designed tohelp clinicians improve their patient care in specificsituations. This drawback is, however, a function ofthe book’s main purpose as a quick reference guideto frequent problems in the ICU. For medical stu-dents, trainees, and beginning ICU caregivers, sup-plemental texts would certainly be required toobtain appropriate background knowledge and treat-ment of pathophysiology.

Overall, Avoiding Common ICU Errors meets itsstated objective and provides clear instructions to

COOK AND PITT: BOOK REVIEW 137

help reduce the incidence of the most common errors inthe modern ICU. As an easily portable, pocket-sizedmanual, this text is written to help address immediateclinical questions with specific recommendations. Thisbook is certainly an invaluable reference for a resident,fellow, mid-level practitioner, or junior faculty and willgo far in helping to improve patient safety in the ICU.

Mackenzie R. Cook, B.A.*,1

Susan C. Pitt, M.D.y

*Howard Hughes Medical Research FellowyDepartment of Surgery, University of Wisconsin

600 Highland Avenue, CSC K4/623, Madison, WI 53792E-mail: pitt@surgery.wisc.edu

doi:10.1016/j.jss.2008.12.048