Stroke care has become progressively more complicated with advances in therapies necessitating timely intervention. There are multiple potential providers of stroke care, which traditionally has been the province of general neurologists and primary care physicians. These new players, be they vascular neurologists, neurohospitalists, internal medicine hospitalists, or neurocritical care physicia...

Contributions from the neurosciences to Critical Care in 2011 covered an array of topics. We learned about potential biomarkers for, and the effect of cerebral oxygen metabolism on, delirium, in addition to treatment of the latter. A group of investigators studied surface cooling in healthy awake volunteers, and incidence of infection associated with therapeutic hypothermia. The effects of stat...

In order to meet the needs of the high acuity population in today's critical care environment, the role of the Acute Care Nurse practitioner (ACNP) has been adopted by many intensive care units (ICU's) across the country, including specialized neurocritical care units. In this chapter we will provide a brief historical review of the ACNP as well as their function in various ICU settings. Lastly...