Critical Narratives: Increasing Humanism using Patient Experiences in the training of Early Career ICU Providers and Nurses
Maya Overby Koretzky Ph.D, Melissa Van Twuver M.Sc, Karissa Dushel, Rohan Mathur MD MPA, Jose I. Suarez MD
Departments of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine, Neurology
A growing body of literature has demonstrated that provider burnout, implicit bias, and poor communication around prognostic uncertainty are factors that can cause patients in the intensive care unit to feel dehumanized and families to feel alienated and unheard. Provider burnout is an issue particularly in the critical care unit where providers take direct care of non-communicative critically ill patients who are often unable to participate in their own care. Once these patients no longer need critical interventions, they are often transported out of the ICU where the provider can no longer follow their outcome. As a result, ICU staff experience moral discomfort and stress, contributing to high levels of burnout and lack of connectedness with the patient.
To address the disconnect, the authors propose mobilizing anthropology and oral history methodologies to bring patients’ perspectives on ICU experiences and post-ICU recovery into the training of early career intensivists across the health professions by designing and evaluating a training module. This training module will utilize video interviews of actual patient interviews alongside a standardized curriculum on post-ICU recovery to increase humanism and empathy, improve bedside communication, decrease implicit bias, and protect against burnout in a cohort of ICU care providers.