I’m sitting in the ICU team room, staring at the computer, trying to look like I’m writing a note. But my head is pounding.
As an internal-medicine resident doing my first month of residency, I’ve found the ICU of the bustling county hospital a jarring place to start my training. Although I’d anticipated the clinical challenge of caring for very ill ICU patients, I was unprepared for the emotional burden of having to deliver devastating, life-altering news to them and their family members.
Faint yells emerge from Room 7. They have an almost rhythmic quality: “Ahhh!”… (three seconds) … “Ahhh!” … (three seconds) … “Ahhh!”
It’s Ms. Burton. I’ve just gotten back from checking on her, but I plod back again.
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