Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and palliative care, famously said, “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” This quote has become the central philosophical tenet of …
Category: Critical Care
Doctors’ emotional struggles in the medical field
Most humans, especially doctors, are completely disconnected from their bodies. This conditioning starts in childhood, escalates through teenage years, and peaks in residency where we are trained to completely detach from our body. Our emotions are hel…
Prayer in the COVID ICU [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with Robert Raschke, a critical care physician and the author of One Hundred Prayers: God’s Answer to Prayer in a COVID ICU. We explore the power of prayer in the midst of…
Navigating grief: a doctor’s personal journey [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join Humeira Badsha, a rheumatologist, as she shares her recent, unexpected journey through grief, offering profound insights into the emotional challenges faced by medical professionals. F…
Emergency care nightmare: the urgent need for experienced nurses
Imagine you are in a bad car accident. You are in and out of consciousness. There are lights and sirens and the smell of gasoline. Everything hurts more than you can bear. Hands pull you from the car and place you on a hard backboard with a rigid cervi…
Navigating medical decision-making: Embracing limits and growth
“Ms. Smith is going to the MICU,” the resident on the other end of the line informs me. My stomach tightens as that visceral sense of guilt and frustration sets in, familiar by now but this time with a newfound intensity. It is my second …
In the trenches of health care: Facing unbearable strain
I’m so sorry, but the pain was too much, and I couldn’t continue. I have witnessed patients crying themselves to sleep while nurses held their hands, praying for their treatments to be approved, giving them one more chance at life. Nurses t…
3 ways clinicians can unlock their career potential through writing
When I was a child, I discovered I had superpowers. One day my mother left me at home with a list of tasks, chores and invented homework assignments to complete over summer break — the joys of having a mom who is also a teacher. As my eyes wandered dow…
3 ways clinicians can unlock their career potential through writing
When I was a child, I discovered I had superpowers. One day my mother left me at home with a list of tasks, chores and invented homework assignments to complete over summer break — the joys of having a mom who is also a teacher. As my eyes wandered dow…
Bully nurse in ICU: a shattered moment for a dying patient
She was oil, and I was vinegar. We didn’t mix. Ever. Even though we wanted the best outcome for our ICU patients, we stood on opposite poles of the earth. Sometimes, there’s only room for one alpha dog, one ultimate bully. And that person w…
