Book excerpt: Intensive Care Unit Manual is a practical, hands-on, how-to manual that covers the full spectrum of conditions encountered in the ICU, guiding you step-by-step from your initial approach to the patient through diagnosis and treatment. Compact, affordable, and comprehensive, the ICU Manual puts all the critical care information you need right at your fingertips! Stay at the forefront of critical care with a practice-oriented, relevant, and well-illustrated account of the pathophysiology of critical disease, presented in a highly readable format. Gain valuable insight into the recognition, evaluation, and management of critical conditions such as respiratory, hemodynamic, and infectious diseases; management of ICU patients with special clinical conditions; cardiovascular, hematologic, and neurological disorders; poisoning and overdoses; trauma and burns; and much more!