title: Critical care. A specialty without frontiers.
abstract: During its development, the specialty of Intensive Care has evolved from simple supportive ventilatory techniques to complex monitoring and decision making. The evidence suggests that a trained dedicated intensivist has beneficial effects on outcomes and costs compared to open units. The role of the intensivist and the need for interaction with other groups is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Therapy Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007391:International Cooperation; D008511:Medicine; D009517:New South Wales; D010348:Patient Care Team; D013038:Specialization; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome