Editorial

Abstract

Welcome to this special 10th anniversary edition of the Acute Medicine journal. Yes – there really have been 30 editions since Vol 1 issue 1, then the ‘CPD Journal of Acute Medicine’ rolled off the press. The journal has clearly evolved and expanded since then – both in terms of circulation and page count; submissions continue to rise in number and quality, ref lecting increased readership and developing interest in acute medicine as a speciality. We are marking the anniversary with a series of guest editorials, from inf luential figures in the development of the speciality over the past decade. I am delighted that Sir George Alberti agreed to write the first of these. George was the President of the Royal College of Physicians of London at the time of this journal’s first edition, and was instrumental in the developments leading up to the creation of the speciality of Acute Internal Medicine. After describing the challenges which the speciality has faced in its ‘gestation and birth’, he concludes that Acute Medicine has now reached its ‘rumbustious’ infancy with a bright future. ‘Overly exuberant or uncontrollably boisterous’, its definition, according to my Google dictionary are terms reminiscent of the past few weeks on our AMU. Hopefully, by the time this reaches printing, spring will be in the air and the dark days of winter, f lu and norovirus will be a distant memory. Optimism is as important as exuberance when working at the front line! As I mentioned in my last editorial, this year will see an increase from three to four issues, with the addition of a ‘trainee section’ containing a variety of new features. I hope that these will be of general interest, not just for the trainees. We have included a number of research-based articles this time, ref lecting some of the excellent work being done on acute medical units around the country. We still need to attract more research submissions if we are going to maintain the quality of the journal and develop into the high impact publication which the speciality so badly needs. Case reports continue to f lood in to the publishers and I am pleased that we are able to include a selection of these. The correspondence section is empty this time, after none was received in time for the publication deadline, but I hope this will return in the next edition. Finally, a word of thanks to the editorial committee, our external referees and, of course, the readers, for all the support over the past decade. The editorial team have worked tirelessly filtering, refereeing and selecting suitable articles for publication. Additional offers of help are always welcomed – please email me with details of any special areas of interest or expertise which you may be able to offer. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this edition, and look forward to meeting some of you at the SAM meeting in May.