xxvii Preface The dissemination of knowledge, and medical and public education constitute a fundamental objective of the ERS mission and the ERS School aims to provide excellence in respiratory medicine education. In 2005, the ERS School started the very ambitious HERMES (Harmonised Education in Respiratory Medicine for European Specialists) project. Since then, seven HERMES Task Forces have formed to standardise training and education within different specialties of respiratory medicine. To support the implementation of various educational activities, the ERS has produced a series of Handbooks as educational tools, with the ERS Handbook of Respiratory Medicine being the first textbook to be launched in 2010. Starting in 2007, the Paediatric Respiratory Medicine Task Force, using a formal consensus process and working with numerous experts throughout Europe, developed a HERMES syllabus (description of the competencies required) and a HERMES curriculum (description of how competencies should be taught, learned and assessed), as well as a voluntary European examination in paediatric respiratory medicine. With the paediatric HERMES project now well underway, it is an opportune time to publish an ERS Handbook of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine to provide a comprehensive update for specialists within this field of respiratory medicine. The content of this Handbook follows the HERMES syllabus and curriculum to provide a compact, state-of-the-art textbook, with each of the sections prepared by senior specialists and clinical experts in the field. We hope that this Handbook will not only inform our trainees but also provide an easily accessible and comprehensive update for colleagues at all levels of seniority across paediatric respiratory medicine. Thus, this educational tool is intended to make a significant contribution to increasing the standards of training in paediatric respiratory medicine throughout Europe and, ultimately, to improving the care of children with respiratory disease. We are indebted to the ERS School Committee and to the ERS staff who so thoroughly and thoughtfully curated this Handbook, and last, but not least, to all the contributors who have shared their knowledge and experience with the readers. Ernst Eber and Fabio Midulla Chief Editors “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin