For more than a decade, there has been no resource to guide the practitioner, trainee or allied health professional in this important field of pediatrics. These disorders are addressed every day with children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit, inpatient units, day hospitals, surgical units (inpatient and ambulatory), emergency rooms or in the outpatient setting.

Fluid and Electrolytes in Pediatrics: A Comprehensive Handbook is a complete compendium of ready access information for pediatricians, family practitioners, residents, students and allied health professionals. The manual will be a "go to" source for tables or information on any aspect of fluid, electrolyte and acid-base metabolism for general pediatrics/ family practitioners/residents/medical students/nurses or the medical or surgical specialties.

In order to achieve the goal as the "THE" textbook in this discipline, each chapter of the book will be divided into the following areas: Definition and Pathophysiology, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Causes, Treatment and Representative Scenarios. Case presentations/problems (6-10) to illustrate the key points within the chapter. The scenarios will attempt to cover the most common problems that present in pediatrics.

This book will have unique information with extensive tables, lists, and algorithms that detail clinical features of the entire spectrum of water metabolism, disorders of electrolytes, and disturbances in acid-base homeostasis by age (infants/newborns, children and adolescents) that is not available in any other textbook.

One of the time-honored foundations of the practice of pediatric medicine is the understanding and application of the principles of fluid, electrolyte and acid-base disorders. Presented in a new softcover format, "Fluid and Electrolytes in Pediatrics: A Comprehensive Handbook" brings together a select group of authors who share a passion and an appreciation of the contributions of pioneers in pediatric medicine and an expertise for their respective areas in a new softcover edition. The volume provides in-depth discussions of the basic functioning of the kidneys, skin and the lungs. Each chapter describes the etiology and demographics, biological mechanisms, patient presentation characteristics, therapy options and consequences of optimal treatment as well as delayed treatment. "Fluid and Electrolytes in Pediatrics: A Comprehensive Handbook" provides health professionals in many areas of research and practice with the most up-to-date, accessible, and well referenced volume on the importance of the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte concentrations in the pediatric population, especially under acute care.

This issue of Pediatric Clinics, guest edited by Drs. Leonard Feld and Shabnam Jain, reviews the topic of Pediatric Quality. The issue opens by examining the case for quality improvement in pediatrics. Approaches to improve pediatric health care, driving children's healthcare initiatives, and the future of quality on pediatric practice are examined.