From the 1850s, to present day, learn about the history of critical care and the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s part in it!

Critical care began when Florence Nightingale established monitoring units to triage the most seriously injured soldiers in Constantinople during the Cimean War in 1854. She placed the sickest patients closest to the nursing station, which resulted in dramatically reduced mortality rates. This inspired others to develop more specialty units, though they did not become standard until nearly a century later.

Learn more about SCCM’s mission to secure the highestquality care for all critically ill and injured patients at sccm.org.