What Have We Done on Medscape Critical Care in 2003?
It is that time of year again when we take a moment to see how far we have come and where we need to go in the future. In the specialty of critical care, much progress has been made in a number of clinical areas, and we have tried to capture that progress in the Conference Coverage, Journal Scans, Clinical Updates, Resource Centers, and other programs that we post on Medscape Critical Care. In 2003, we have also tried to add more discussion of clinical issues through the Ask the Experts programs for physicians as well as through the Featured Discussions that you yourself post on the site.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who have helped me this year to make the Medscape Critical Care site what it is today. To the members of Medscape Critical Care's Editorial Board -- David Crippen, MD; Dennis Doherty, MD; Antonios Liolios, MD; Neil MacIntyre, MD; Greg Martin, MD; Arthur Slutsky, MD; and Stephen Streat, MD -- I say thank you for your help and advice. To all of the authors and reviewers who have written, edited, and commented on the many projects that we have posted, thank you for your hard work. To everyone who has helped me with advice and direction, etc., a sincere thank you.

Over the past year, we have covered quite a few conferences and look forward to continuing our conference coverage into 2004 with the coming of the 33rd Critical Care Congress, taking place February 21-25, 2004, in Orlando, Florida. Do not forget to register early.

If you are looking for some of the latest clinical information, we have just posted conference coverage from the 16th Annual Congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, which took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It is CME-accredited. We also have coverage of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 41st Annual Meeting, which took place in San Diego, California. In addition, CME coverage of Chest 2003: 69th International Scientific Assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians, which took place in Orlando, Florida, should be posted shortly.

If you are looking for a few more CME credits, be sure to take advantage of the Conference Coverage that we have done this year. If you have not already done so, you can still get CME/CE credit for the 32nd Critical Care Congress of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, 23rd International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, 13th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and Coverage of the 99th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.

If you wish to find out about other critical care meetings, look at our Conference Calendar listings in the Conference Center section of the Critical Care site.

If you are looking for additional educational activities on Medscape Critical Care, we have a Clinical Update on "Improving ICU Survival in Cases of Severe Sepsis Using Drotrecogin Alfa (Activated)," one on "Effect of a Catabolic State With Involuntary Weight Loss on Acute and Chronic Respiratory Disease," and one entitled: "Therapeutic Potential of PDE4 Inhibitors in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." You can also view the Web telecast: "SARS: Here Today, Here Tomorrow" and get educational credit as well. Click here to get a complete listing of the Clinical Updates on Medscape Critical Care.

We also have several CME Circle features that will allow you to earn education credit. These include one entitled: "Therapeutic Challenges in the Management of Nosocomial Pneumonia," one on "Preventing Health-Care–Associated Infections Caused by Staphylococcus aureus," and another on "The Role of Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors in the Era of Drug-Eluting Stents and Brachytherapy." Click here to get a complete listing of CME Circle programs.

We have posted quite a few News CME articles this year. In our News CME section, we have a new item entitled: "New Guidelines for Restraint Use in ICU." We also have other News CME items entitled: "Warfarin Safe, Effective for Thrombosis Prophylaxis in Children," "New Guidelines for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency," "Perioperative IV Fluid Restriction Helpful in Colorectal Resection," and "Selective Decontamination of GI Tract Improves ICU Outcome." To earn credit, read the news article and take the posttest.

Thanks to your participation, the Ask the Experts programs have been very successful this year. The Sepsis Ask the Experts program has been a very popular feature on Medscape Critical Care. The most recent questions concern "Vasopressor Use and Acute Renal Failure in Sepsis," "Norepinephrine Infusion in Severe Circulatory Shock," and "Antibiotics and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia." Click here to view all of the Sepsis Ask the Experts content from this year.

We have also just posted some new items for the General Critical Care Ask the Experts program. We have several items on "Albumin for Hypoalbuminemia in the Elderly," "Determining Removal of Central Venous Catheters," "Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Antiplatelet Drugs," "Antiplatelet Drugs and Hemorrhagic Infarcts," and one on "Patient Presenting With Fever, Vomiting, and Abdominal Pain." Click here to view all of the General Critical Care Ask the Experts content from this year.

If you are a physician and wish to ask a question on the topic of critical care or specifically sepsis, go to the Medscape Critical Care home page, scroll down to the "Ask the Experts" section, and select the "Submit a Question" link for the appropriate topic or click here for a directory page of Medscape Critical Care ATEs.

In addition, we offer a number of specialized topic areas, known as Resource Centers, that focus on specific areas of research. The Sepsis Resource Center is one such area. We also have one devoted to Chronic Kidney Disease and another on Disaster and Trauma. Be sure to visit these and other Resource Centers.

We have a number of new postings from our Publishers' Circle partners. From Critical Care, we have recently posted articles entitled: "Comparison of Sufentanil With Sufentanil Plus Magnesium Sulphate for Sedation in the Intensive Care Unit Using Bispectral Index" and "Mass Transfer, Clearance and Plasma Concentration of Procalcitonin During Continuous Venovenous Hemofiltration in Patients With Septic Shock and Acute Oligurin Renal Failure." From the American Journal of Critical Care, we have an article on "Role of Activated Protein C in the Pathophysiology of Severe Sepsis." From Advances in Neonatal Care, we have an article on "Assessment of an Infant With a Peripheral Intravenous Device."

The Critical Care Journal Scan continues to provide a monthly review of interesting and topical journal articles from specialty and general interest journals. To get a quick look at what has been published recently in the field, take a look at the latest Critical Care Journal Scan. The current Critical Care Journal Scan provides a review of articles on morbidity and mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome, the cause of mortality in cardiogenic shock, patient outcomes after discharge from a hospital-based weaning unit, and end of life in a pediatric intensive care unit.

We also have the Medscape Critical Care Discussion Boards section where you can go to read your colleagues' opinions on a number of topics as well as expressing your own. One recent discussion concerns "Definition of Sepsis in Pediatrics," and another discusses "Admission Criteria to CCU for a Patient With Febrile Neutropenia." You can respond to these discussions or start one of your own.

The Medscape Critical Care site has posted a number of MEDLINE abstract collections that cover the latest studies on specific topics. The most current topics include trauma survival, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, drotrecogin alfa (recombinant human activated protein C) for the treatment of sepsis, and severe sepsis.

If you are a physician and would like to submit an interesting critical care-related case study that illustrates how you solved a vexing clinical problem, send it to me at Criticalcareeditor@webmd.net. The cases will be presented in an interactive format that links into the discussion section of the site as well, allowing users to comment on the cases.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about what you see on the site or wish to suggest a new program that you would find useful, please feel free to email me at Criticalcareeditor@webmd.net. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please contact our customer support staff at Medscapecustomersupport@webmd.net.

Happy holidays!