The Future of Cardiothoracic Surgical Critical Care Medicine as a Medical Science: A Call to Action
Rafal Kopanczyk,
Jesse Lester,
Micah T. Long,
Briana J. Kossbiel,
Aaron S. Hess,
Alan Rozycki,
David R. Nunley,
Alim Habib,
Ashley Taylor,
Hamdy Awad,
Amar M. Bhatt
Affiliations
Rafal Kopanczyk
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Jesse Lester
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Micah T. Long
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics, Madison, WI 53792, USA
Briana J. Kossbiel
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Aaron S. Hess
Department of Anesthesiology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics, Madison, WI 53792, USA
Alan Rozycki
Department of Pharmacology, The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
David R. Nunley
Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Alim Habib
College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Ashley Taylor
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Hamdy Awad
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Amar M. Bhatt
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Cardiothoracic surgical critical care medicine (CT-CCM) is a medical discipline centered on the perioperative care of diverse groups of patients. With an aging demographic and an increase in burden of chronic diseases the utilization of cardiothoracic surgical critical care units is likely to escalate in the coming decades. Given these projections, it is important to assess the state of cardiothoracic surgical intensive care, to develop goals and objectives for the future, and to identify knowledge gaps in need of scientific inquiry. This two-part review concentrates on CT-CCM as its own subspeciality of critical care and cardiothoracic surgery and provides aspirational goals for its practitioners and scientists. In part one, a list of guiding principles and a call-to-action agenda geared towards growth and promotion of CT-CCM are offered. In part two, an evaluation of selected scientific data is performed, identifying gaps in CT-CCM knowledge, and recommending direction to future scientific endeavors.
