CRITICAL CARE IN SOUTH-AMERICA - THE NEW TRADITION

This article offers a brief discussion of some of the aspects of clini cal and academic realities of critical and intensive care medicine in South America. Organizational efforts of collaborating physician and n ursing intensivists from South American countries, Spain, and Portugal are outlined. Discussion includes the issues of funding and support o f health care delivery of the critically ill, and some of the clinical syndromes not commonly seen in North America and Europe, but seen by intensivists in South America.