The LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a comprehensive collection of pages concisely covering the core topics and controversies of critical care. Currently there are over 1,500 entries with more in the works, and all the pages are being constantly revised and improved.

The CCC was created, and is maintained, by Chris Nickson and originated from the FCICM exam study notes created by Jeremy Fernando in 2011. All of these pages have been updated, modified and added to since by a number of contributors (see below). As such will be particularly useful to those studying for the CICM Fellowship exam (though there are topics outside the scope of the exam as well). Increasingly, entries relevant to the FACEM exam are also being added.

NOTE: Pages are continually added under these topic headings, to find a current list of pages for each topic just search for the topic heading in the searchable index table.

We have defined “critical care medicine” as the triad of 1) resuscitation, 2) emergency care for life-threatening conditions, and 3) intensive care; including all components of the emergency and critical care medicine delivery system, prehospital and hospital.

Peter Safar, 1974

References and resources

Numerous resources and references, in addition to those listed at the end of each page, were particularly useful in creating the compendium.

LITFL

• ICU Mind Maps by Paul Young, litfl.com
• ECG Library by Buttner R, Burns E, Larkin J, Nickson C, Cadogan M
• CICM Fellowship Overview

FOAM and web-based resources

• CriticalCareReviews.com (curated articles from the critical care literature, including an annual free-to-access book critically appraising major trials)
• Medsafe (New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority)
• The Bottom Line (compendium of critical appraisals of the ICU research literature)
• David Tripp’s magnum opus of Intensive Care Medicine FCICM study notes (pdf last updated December 2014; David Tripp’s website is here)

Textbooks

• Acute Pain Management: Scientific Evidence (3e) PDF Macintyre PE, Schug SA, Scott DA, Visser EJ, Walker SM; Working Group of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Pain Medicine. Melbourne, 2010.
• Atlas of Emergency Radiology Block, Jordanov, Stack. 2013
• Australian animal toxins: the creatures, their toxins and care of the poisoned patient (2e) Sutherland SK, Tibballs J. Oxford University Press 2001.
• Clinical Examination: A Systematic Guide to Physical Diagnosis (7e) Talley NJ, O’Connor S. 2013.
• Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine (6e) Roberts JR, Hedges JR. Saunders 2013.
• Data Interpretation in Critical Care Medicine (5e) Venkatesh B, Morgan TJ, Joyce C, Townsend S. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012.
• Diagnostic Imaging in Critical Care – A problem based approach Joyce, C, Saad, N, Kruger, P, Foot, C, Blackwell, N. Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone, Australia, 2010
• ECG in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care. Chan T, Brady W, Harrigan R, Ornato J, Rosen P. Mosby, 2004.
• Emergency Radiology Schwartz DT, Reisdorff EJ. McGraw-Hill 2000.
• Examination Intensive Care Medicine (2e), Foote C, Steel L, Vidhani K, Lister B, MacPartlin M, Blackwell N. Elsevier 2011.
• Eye Emergency Manual 2e PDF NSW Statewide Opthalmology Service.
• Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies (9e) Flomenbaum N, et al. McGraw-Hill 2010.
• MD Consult online resource
• Neurological differential diagnosis: a prioritized approach Bhidayasiri R, Waters MF, Giza CC. Blackwell Publishing 2005.
• Neurological differential diagnosis (2e) Patten J. Springer-Verlag 2004.
• Oh’s Intensive Care Manual (7e) Bersten AD, Soni N. 2013.
• Paediatric Handbook (8th edition) Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne 2010
• Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine. Croskerry P, Cosby KS, Schenkel SM, Wears RL. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009.
• Plum and Posner’s Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma (4e) Posner JB, et al. Oxford university Press 2007.
• Poisoning and Drug Overdose (6e) Olsen, K. Lange/ McGraw-Hill 2006.
• Principles and Practice of Mechanical Ventilation (3e) Tobin M. McGraw-Hill, 2012
• RCH Clinical Practice Guidelines Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
• Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice (8e) Marx JA, Hockberger R, Walls RM. Mosby 2013.
• Textbook of Critical Care (6e). Vincent J-L, Abraham E, Kchanek P, Moor FA, Fink MA.Elsevier, 2013.
• The Wills Eye Manual: Office and Emergency Room Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Disease Ehlers JP, Shah CP, Fenton GL, and Hoskins EN. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2012.
• Therapeutic Guidelines (Australia) [subscription required]
• Toxicology Handbook (2e) Murray L, Daly FFS, Little M, and Cadogan M. Elsevier Australia 2011.
• Trauma: A Comprehensive Emergency Medicine Approach Legome E, Shockley LW. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Wilderness Medicine (6e) Auerbach P, Mosby Elsevier 2011
• Wounds and Lacerations: Emergency Care and Closure (4e) Trott AT. Mosby, 2012.