General Principles -- Initial Assessment and Early Resuscitation -- The Operating Theater for Acute Care Surgery -- Anesthesia and Acute Care Surgery -- Fundamental Operative Approaches in Acute Care Surgery -- The Perioperative Management of the Acute Care Surgical Patient -- The Hemodynamically Labile Patient: Cardiovascular Adjuncts and Assist Devices -- Principles and Practice of Nutritional Support for Surgical Patients -- The Intensive Care Unit: The Next-Generation Operating Room -- Burns -- Electrical and Lightning Injuries -- Soft Tissue Infections -- The Open Abdomen: Management from Initial Laparotomy to Definitive Closure -- Acute Care Surgery and the Elderly -- Acute Care Surgery in the Rural Setting -- Prehospital Care in the Acute Setting -- Disaster and Mass Casualty Management -- Principles of Injury Prevention and Control -- Education: Surgical Simulation in Acute Care Surgery -- Organ-Based Approach -- Pharynx and Larynx -- Head and Neck: Pediatrics -- Esophagus -- Central Nervous System -- Chest Wall -- Lungs and Pleura -- Heart -- Thoracic Aorta -- Diaphragm -- Abdominal Wall -- Foregut -- Small Intestine -- Liver and Biliary Tract -- Pancreas -- Spleen -- Intraabdominal Vasculature -- Colon and Rectum -- Urogenital Tract -- Pelvis -- Lower Extremities -- Hand and Upper Extremities -- Peripheral Vasculature -- Administration, Ethics, and Law -- Understanding the Latest Changes in EMTALA: Our Country’s Emergency Care Safety Net -- Informed Surgical Consent -- Advance Directives -- The Nonviable Patient and Organ Procurement -- Ethical Dilemmas and the Law -- System and Curriculum Development -- Development of a Regional System for Surgical Emergencies (RSSE) -- Acute Care Surgery: A Proposed Curriculum -- Emergency General Surgery: The Vanderbilt Model -- The International Communities -- Acute Care Surgery: United Kingdom -- Acute Care Surgery: Australia -- Acute Care Surgery: Japan.

The genesis of this project is a direct result of the fact that there is no substantive textbook that addresses the full-spectrum of surgical emergencies. Even in a ?eld in which there is a plethora of excellent textbooks on a variety of surgical topics (including trauma), there is no one reference book with a dedicated emphasis on both traumatic and nontraumatic conditions potentially necessitating surgical int- vention in the acute setting.This project became even more unique when its st- wise development paralleled the evolution of a new specialty–acute care surgery. This was far from a serendipitous link.On the contrary,my editorial colleagues and I, along with many of the contributors, have recently been part of a major effort to build the foundation for this new specialty.As with any proposed new specialty, there have been a few rough interfaces with some of the other surgical specialties regarding the scope of practice of the acute care surgeon. Fortunately, the key to this con?ict resolution will revolve around what is best for the patient. However, irrespective of these dynamics,there is a worsening crisis in acute care in this nation.