"Fire in the belly": Youth and exuberance -- The productive years: "The diesel effect" -- The aging intensivist and business management -- The aging critical care physician: A 50 year progression of events -- Transitions from the academic heap: new directions within the system -- The aging Intensivist and global medical politics -- The aging Intensivist and academia -- The critical care physician and a career in Industry: Reflections and Recommendations -- Race and the ICU -- The aging Intensivist and younger colleagues -- Nearing the clinical end: a female perspective -- Good Times, Bad Times, Time to Get out Alive: Ruminations of a Retiring Critical Care Physician -- The aging intensivist and functional incapacity -- Legacy: What aging intensivists can pass on -- Future of Critical Care Medicine -- Health Care in the year 2050 and Beyond
Summary
"This book brings together personal narratives from critical care medicine specialists around the world. Most of these physicians started in critical care at or before the exponential increase in technological modalities to reverse or sustain organ function, have seen patient care both ways, and have worked as many as 30 years or more at the bedside. The narratives are organized around such themes as : how and why these physicians entered the discipline of critical care; what was critical care like in the beginning; how they have experienced the flood of innovations in critical care; why they decided to retire (or not); and what their retirement options have been (or not). Composed by influential critical care medicine specialists, The Intensivist's Challenge: Aging and Career Growth in a High-Stress Medical Specialty is a valuable resource bringing together a discussion of the nature and problems of aging as they apply to physicians in a high-stress occupation, while assessing the value of clinical experience at the bedside in a world increasingly full of soulless technology"--Provided by publisher
