Persevering Through A Pandemic - 3 - Ultramarathon

Whilst some people choose to run long distances, caring for patients in the ICU is not supposed to feel like an ultramarathon.

If you work in the complex, high stress, emotion-generating environment of an ICU, it might sometimes feel like you are the logistics organiser of an ultimate endurance event, but you should hardly feel like you are a competitor.

Yet when COVID-19 arrived, the initial sprint became a marathon and that's now turned into a seemingly never-ending ultramarathon.

In this third episode of the "Persevering Through A Pandemic" series, you'll hear about this pandemic ultramarathon and the effects it's had on the people working in ICUs in the UK. A period which has been physically and emotionally difficult yet has provided glimpses of career satisfaction along the journey.

Amongst other topics, UK intensivists Drs Matt Morgan, Hugh Montgomery & Georg Auzinger talk honestly about their worst pandemic days, the discomfort that they and their colleagues felt, how their teams kept afloat in such an overwhelming situation and the lingering effects on clinician mental health. There is mention of an interesting letter one of them sent and a special kind of chocolate cake!

My hope is this will help you as a listener to reflect on and to process your own pandemic experience whilst hearing lessons you might take away to your Intensive Care community.

Thank you for listening to these wise and thoughtful Intensive Care clinicians tell you how they've been "Persevering Through A Pandemic".

Andrew Davies

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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower Intensive Care clinicians through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care to bring their best selves to work by focusing on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.

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Links to featured guests

Dr Matthew Morgan

Matt Morgan on Twitter @dr_mattmorgan

Book "Critical" (by Matt Morgan)

Matt Morgan – Previous episode on Mastering Intensive Care

Dr Hugh Montgomery

Hugh Montgomery on Twitter @hugh_montgomery

Hugh Montgomery – Previous episode on Mastering Intensive Care

Dr Georg Auzinger

Georg Auzinger – Previous episode on Mastering Intensive Care

Links related to Mastering Intensive Care podcast

Mastering Intensive Care podcast

Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook

Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on LinkedIn

Email Andrew Davies

Audio Producer Chris Burke

Burke Sound & Media