Mastering Intensive Care

Assoc Prof Charlie Corke from Geelong, Australia outlines the importance of optimal communication in helping us arrive at the best decisions for our patients. Charlie is one of Australia's leading intensivists and has been teaching communication and high quality end of life decision-making since before it was even fashionable. Charlie reflects on how we can communicate effectively, telling us that communication begins with caring, requires deep respect for others, is mostly about addressing the needs of others, and most importantly involves finding out what the patient truly wants. In a wide-ranging interview, Charlie tells us that intensive care is not a place we can "mess up", that good intensivists are like the Sherlock Holmes of the hospital, that delegation of authority can never be vague, that we need to look after our selves as well as we do others, how bullying can be so counterproductive, and how much better it is to work in an intensive care unit which favours consistency of practice over individual opinion-based attitudes. Charlie muses on the fact that we need both good leaders and good followers in our intensive care teams to deliver the best outcomes for our patients. The interview concludes with Charlie telling us that sometimes when it all gets too much the best thing to do is to walk out of the intensive care unit or the hospital, have a colleague take over, and to take some time out before coming back to work. He also rejoices in the benefits of working part time. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist from Frankston Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

In this episode Assoc Prof Craig French from Western Health (where he is Director of Intensive Care) and Melbourne University in Melbourne, Australia reflects thoughtfully about many aspects of clinical care including how inspiring a healthy workplace culture can lead to staff enjoyment as well as improved patient outcomes. Craig discusses topics such as: how in intensive care we have become more focused on less is best and that this may lead to clinicians becoming deskilled, how good communication and listening requires not being afraid of silence, the benefits of doing a pre-ward round ward round for planning the flow of the day, how more frequent handovers can be an issue, that we are probably moving towards 24 hourly hospital-located intensivists (which may help work-life balance), engaging well with nursing staff is vital including providing them with clear aims, simple observation of patients and their surroundings can provide an enormous amount of information, ward rounds can't go too long and they need to have some sort of predictable order for the effective running of the ICU, the massive importance of having a life outside of medicine, his own competitive cycling career, his use of Tibetan meditation to deal with his pathological fear of flying, how busy clinical days can lead to skipped meals and eating fast foods, and how he worries about whether he is spending enough time with his wife and family. The interview concludes with some thoughts from Craig about the issues with working at home in the evenings, some of the principles of good end of life care, how inspiring a workplace culture which fosters everyone achieving their best can help both staff morale and patient outcomes, and how CPR in the community for elderly patients might be considered futile even before the patient arrives at hospital. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist from Frankston Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

In this episode Prof Jamie Cooper from the Alfred Hospital and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia describes how purposeful management of our own careers is vital for longevity in the field, how research has helped him be a better clinician and some of the habits he thinks are important to having a good life at work and at home. Jamie discusses topics such as: why he the immediacy in ICU made it interesting to him; how as a trainee his older colleagues were warning him about burnout; how the size of ICUs has changed over his career; how the gender imbalance has not; how combining research with clinical medicine has increased his career longevity; how if everyone in a department helps each other, the place will be happier; how ICUs can become too large for a single department head; how caring for multiple patient types extends our career; how building too many things into our lives especially at work is a big risk; how preserving evenings and weekends for family is a must; the importance of regular exercise, especially with groups; how important sleep including naps has been to him; the benefits of bringing reading back into his life; the value of communication, especially with visiting surgeons, where conflict may arise; how the use of text messages can be very helpful and when it is not. The interview concludes with some advice from Jamie for younger intensivists about how they should be alert and aware to prevent potential troubles in their careers. Jamie has had a hugely successful academic career, however quite rightly he hopes to be thought more of for his excellence as a clinician, something he certainly is. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

In this episode Assoc Prof Neil Orford from University Hospital Geelong in Geelong, Australia describes how he has had to learn key leadership skills, how he values and now teaches communication skills, how he works on his overall life balance and how he has developed an interest in writing. Neil discusses topics such as: how he ended up studying medicine after considering being a vet and a mathematician; how he uses regular reflection to optimise his life balance, concentrating on understanding the number of major projects he is involved in at any one time; how he needed to find good leadership training once he became an ICU director in his 30s; how important skilled communication is and how he has become involved in a communication program which amongst other things uses professional actors; how communication skills can be used in all areas of life; the key characteristics of good clinicians; how he interacts with other team-members on a ward round; use of mobile phones on ward rounds and how important a regular presence in the ICU is. The interview concludes with a discussion of Neil's interest in writing, how he penned an opinion piece for the local newspaper and how this was received, where he is aiming at with his writing, and how writing gives him some release from the other aspects of his job. Neil guesses that his colleagues would consider him to be a caring leader and after listening to this excellent interview most listeners are likely to agree. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

In this episode Prof Rinaldo Bellomo from the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia describes how he has always had an enquiring mind and how he judges himself with respect to his ability to be caring, compassionate, competent, communicative and collegial, both professionally and personally. He discusses topics such as: how an experience as a 5th medical student sparked his interest in intensive care medicine; how intensive care has become more safe as technological advancements have occurred; how he seeks feedback from colleagues; how to give feedback and how it needs to be helpful in nature; what his daily routine is; how being at the bedside is so important to excellent clinical care; how experience has helped him deal with stress more easily but makes fatigue a bigger issue; how doing research is the basis of his stress management program; what his out of work pursuits are and how he'd love to have a 30 hour day. He carefully describes the process he uses in his end of life family conversations and astutely points out that end of life care can never be rushed. The interview concludes with Rinaldo's hope that he be known for his continuous desire to ask "how do we know that we know this" at the patient's bedside (which has no doubt fuelled his enormously successful research career) and precisely what he thinks all doctors could do to help them become more humble. This is an outstanding conversation about compassionate clinical care with one of the best intensive care researchers in the world who is also one of the great mentors of our time. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

In this podcast Prof John Botha from Frankston Hospital in Melbourne, Australia discusses several aspects of exemplary leadership in the ICU. He talks about why he was attracted to ICU; some of his early mentoring; how to learn from even difficult mentors; how an exceptional ICU environment requires trust, a sense of humour and respect for difference in opinion; the importance of encouraging silence in critical clinical moments; the value of listening; the things out of the ICU that keep him from being stressed; the sense of deep connection to humanity he feels from managing the critically ill; what is required for high quality end of life care; and a method for managing other clinicians who may be more proactive with interventions. This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each episode, Andrew Davies, an intensivist in Melbourne, Australia, speaks with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.

This podcast was created to help and inspire intensive care clinicians to improve the care we give to our patients by providing interesting and thought-provoking conversations with highly respected and experienced clinicians. In each of the following episodes, Andrew Davies, an intensivist in Melbourne, Australia, will speak with a guest for the purpose of hearing their perspectives on the habits and behaviours that they believe are the most important for improving the outcomes of our patients. Things like bringing our best selves to work each day, optimal communication, coping with stress and preventing burn out, working well in a team, and interacting with patient's families and the many other health professionals we deal with on a daily basis. The podcast is less about the drugs, devices and procedures that can be administered and more about the habits, behaviours and philosophies that can help intensive care clinicians to master the craft of intensive care.