Preface

Neurocritical care is a captivating, fast-growing subspecialty dedicated to the care and treatment of patients with the most severe nervous system diseases. Knowledge of neurology in conjunction with all critical care skills is needed to care for these patients. Because of the broad knowledge base required to practice neurocritical care, there is a lack of comprehensive and organized resources that describe the training curriculum or specific board preparation.

As we began to prepare for our own boards, we realized there was a large gap in the current materials available. We used the available educational resources at our Harvard Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program and invested the energy of nationwide fellows, residents, and junior faculty to generate a comprehensive question-and-answer book.

We have created this board review book to prepare you not only for the neurocritical care boards but also for the neurosurgery, emergency medicine, and surgical critical care boards! Readers will find that this book is not just about the brain, as it also covers the complexities of all organ failures and general critical care topics.

We designed this book to be a great resource and study guide to trainees rotating through neurocritical care units, including neurology and neurosurgery residents, as well as critical care nurses, advanced health care providers and clinicians from other subspecialties who are not familiar with core neurocritical care topics.

In the second edition of this book, we have added a new Clinical Pearls section after most chapters, providing concise, practical insights for patient care. These sections are valuable educational tools that help learners reinforce and recall key clinical points, commonly used in teaching rounds and exams. They offer quick access to essential information by summarizing complex concepts in an easy-to-remember format.

With over 700 questions and detailed answer explanation, all neurocritical care and general critical care topics are covered. Although question-and-answer–based preparation works well for board review, we aspired for more. We hope that our book can strengthen your understanding of critical care topics and prepare you further for practice in the neurologic intensive care unit.

“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.” —Hippocrates