Tag Archives: intensivist

The patient needs YOU…

As Frank and I embark on this new endeavor, I have contemplated a great deal about my first post.  I want my passion to shine through.  I love vents, ABG’s, lungs, airways, critical care and all that it encompasses.  I’ve deeply contemplated where I want this journey to begin, what I want to share, teach, impart.  My brain has been buzzing.  And then I had a bad night.

I started my usual night trucking down the hall, looking at my list, making plans.  Then I passed one of our critical care nurses who flagged me down.

“We’re bringing a bad one to the unit.”

Okay, ‘bad one’ is kind of my bag.  The nurse gives me some quick details and I tell her that is sounds like the patient is well covered and that I’ll stop by, weigh in, and see if anyone needs anything.

“No, she needs YOU.”

These words have become both a compliment and a curse. I know immediately what it means. It means a complicated social situation, confusion, sickness. It means that she is dying.  Continue reading The patient needs YOU…