FCCS Textbook
The FCCS textbook is an integral part of the FCCS syllabus. Created under the supervision of the SCCM by a multi-disciplinary international team dedicated to teaching effective critical care, made up of healthcare professionals from fields such as anaesthesiology, emergency care, nursing, paediatric medicine and surgery, the FCCS textbook covers:
- Recognition and evaluation of critically ill patients
- Respiratory tract management
- Cardiopulmonary/cerebral resuscitation
- Diagnosing and treating acute respiratory failure
- Assisted breathing
- Monitoring blood flow, oxygen levels and acid base balance
- Diagnosing and treating shock
- Neurological support
- Basic trauma and burns
- Acute coronary syndromes
- Life-threatening infections: diagnosis and selection of the best antimicrobial therapy
- Management of life-threatening electrolytic and metabolic disorders
- Special considerations with critical patients
- Critical care in pregnancy
- Ethics in critical care medicine
- Basics of critical care in infants and children
FCCS, Fundamental Critical Care Support, designed by the Society of Critical Care Medicine, is a standardised course for theoretical learning and practical know-how, which is intended for non-intensivists professionals and is designed to teach them the fundamental principles of how they should behave with critical patients during the first 24 hours until they can be transferred to the ICU.
The FCCS course is standardised by the SCCM. Students will be able to acquire the following skills: prioritising the evaluation of the needs of critical patients, selecting adequate diagnostic tests, knowing how to identify and respond to changes in an unstable patient, recognising and starting treatment in situations where there is an imminent risk to life, and preparing one’s team to handle sudden deterioration in critical patients.
It is intended for healthcare professionals (medicine, nursing) who may or may not have training in critical care, but who care for patients with serious diseases or illnesses during their initial stabilisation before an intensivist or specialist arrives, or before transfer to a highly specialized centre.
Students will be provided with the FCCS pre-course study material (FCCS book in English) 4 weeks before the start of the course. It is mandatory to read and study this material before the start of the course.