EP #1048: Understanding Intensive Care: Self-Care for Supporting a Loved One

Send us a text Lisa is joined by Lara Goiten, MD a Harvard trained physician specializing in intensive care and lung medicine to talk about her book, The ICU Guide for Families: Understanding Intensive Care and How You Can Support Your Loved One.Somewhere between her residency in Boston and her fellowship in Seattle, she fell in love with the desert southwest and took a hard detour to work as a river guide in the Grand Canyon. She now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her husband and two sons. There, she founded a clinician-directed quality improvement program at the Santa Fe hospital, and served as President-Elect of the Medical Staff. Her professional interests include quality improvement in healthcare, end-of-life care, the training of new doctors, physician burnout, and improving communication with patients and families. She is an editorial board member and frequent writer for the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine, and also writes in the lay press, including the New York Review of Books. As much as possible, she spends time with her family hiking, camping, and river rafting in her stunning backyard. Book description: CU events are not uncommon but knowing what to do when a loved one is placed there is. This work explores the ICU with an eye toward guiding families to getting the best care for their beloved patient Intensive care will touch almost all of us at some point – whether directly, or through our families and or friends. This book is for every family of patients in the ICU, who have suddenly entered an intimidating and alien world, in which they feel powerless and out of control. In simple, direct language, Lara Goitein, MD, gives clear explanations of all aspects of intensive care – what all those lines and tubes are; common conditions such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); physical changes in patients and what they mean; common procedures and their risks and benefits; and the people and the culture of the ICU. One full section of the book is devoted to Covid-19-specific issues. In addition, the book provides concrete advice for how family members can be effective advocates on behalf of their loved ones –what to know before giving consent for procedures, how to interact with ICU staff, how to help the ICU team guard against common complications of ICU care, and how to approach important decisions about end-of-life care. Along the way, the author gently reminds of us of what, in the end, matters most in the ICU.For readers who may be distracted and exhausted, this is a clear, accessible guide with concrete recommendations for getting the best care and asking the right questions along the way. A compassionate resource in a time of extreme stress, this book offers support to anyone touched by an ICU stay.