Welcome to the sixth edition of Clinical Anesthesia. The publication of this edition occurs at a time of great clinical, educational, and research advances. At no time in our specialty's history is the observation more true that the major achievements in surgery could not occur without the accompanying vision of skillful anesthesiologists. Everyday in operating rooms around the world anesthesiologists are challenged to meet exemplary levels of clinical care while ensuring the highest level of patient safety. To meet these needs new educational paradigms are being employed which require education in a variety of formats and settings.
The prime goal of Clinical Anesthesia from its inception has been:
“To develop a textbook that supports efficient and rapid acquisition of knowledge.”
The editors have employed a variety of educational methods to achieve this objective making Clinical Anesthesia, in reality, a series of interconnected publications using the printed word, electronic medium, and the Internet. Our efforts have been recognized with numerous international awards. With the publication of each edition, we try to develop innovative and contemporary ways to disseminate knowledge to our reader. With this edition, we are the first anesthesia text to use podcasting as one of the newest methods to rapidly transmit clinically relevant information, while also assisting practioners who are preparing for Board examinations and recertification.
Starting with the cover, you will see major changes in the textbook. Drs. M. Christine Stock and Michael K. Cahalan have joined the Editors. Both Chris and Mike bring their unique talents to enhance our ability to deliver a forward-looking clinical text that enhances acquisition of clinically important information and aligns chapter content with contemporary educational goals. Dr. Robert Stoelting will assume Editor Emeritus status. Bob is instrumental in the success of the Clinical Anesthesia series. His writing and editing capabilities are legendary. The editors have benefited enormously from his insights into modern anesthesia, as well as his hands-on approach to the logistically complex task of editorial supervision.
Once the book is opened, the reader will be able to appreciate a unified graphic format. All illustrations and graphics are presented to augment the educational experience and rapidly transmit important information. In addition, to a re-ordered table of contents, two new chapters have been added: Inflammation, Wound Healing and Infection, andEchocardiography. Approximately a third of the contributors are new to this edition, incorporating a fresh point of view to important chapter content. We have encouraged contributors to develop clinically relevant themes and prioritize various clinical options considered by many to be the definitive strength of previous editions.
We realize that redundancies may exist in a book of this size. The editors have taken every opportunity to reduce repetition or even disagreement between chapters. However, clinical problems are managed differently by practioners, so this diversity of approach serves to enrich the educational experience.
We wish to express our appreciation to all our contributors whose knowledge, hard work, dedication and timely submissions have allowed us to maintain quality while working with a tight production schedule. Our readers have also been instrumental in providing comments that allow the editors to continually improve Clinical Anesthesia to meet the needs of our audience. Dr. Jorge Galvez deserves special recognition for his enormous input on the logistical management of our podcasting project. We also thank Christopher Cambic, MD who proofread for details, as well as our administrative assistants—Gail Norup, Ruby Wilson, Deanna Walker, and Victoria Ramos. We would like to thank our editors at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins-Wolters Kluwer, Brian Brown and Lisa McAllister, for their commitment to excellence. Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to Nicole Dernoski—Managing Editor at LWW, Chris Miller—Production Manager at Aptara, Angela Panetta—Marketing at LWW, and Ed Schultes, Jr.—Media Assistant at LWW whose day-to-day management of this endeavor resulted in a publication that exceeded the Editor's expectations.