Critical care reaching out (further) to help?

Critical care medicine has existed in the world in a recognisable form for about 70years,beginning with the first description of an “anaesthesiologic observation unit” developed for the 1952–1953 Copenhagen poliomyelitis epidemic. Within a very short time, other European and North American reports appeared describing upgraded recovery rooms treating patients with coma, shock or poisoning, and resuscitation emergencies. These new hospital services had elements of triage, rapid treatment and concentrated care, and were soon accommodating an ever larger count of patients with higher levels of acuity within a system formerly designed to care for stable patients.