Abstract
Established medical disciplines look back at the past 50 years recounting the historical strides in their development and progress. Both intensive care and emergency medicine were back then only incepted, rapidly evolving over the past decades to achieve their current advanced scope of practice.
Groundbreaking technical innovations and advancements enabled support or even replacement of key life functions. Often heroic and bold life-saving measures are now complemented by discussing the long-term goals regarding the quality of life after surviving the critical event.
An urgent need for new skills is emerging in re-humanizing medicine with special emphasis on communication, interdisciplinary team cooperation, telemedicine, prognostication, cost-benefit analyses, and medical personnel protection in infectious and hazardous environments. New generations of medical professionals are faced with these and multiple other challenges.
Successful management and implementation of these skills and techniques represent a portal to international and global health care market.