Seven Signs of Life: Unforgettable Stories from an Intensive Care Doctor

About this book

For Readers of Paul Kalanithis When Breath Becomes Air an Intensive Care Doctor Reveals How Everyday Emotions Are Taken to Extremes in the ICU Dr. Aoife Abbey takes us beyond the medical perspective to see the humanity at work inside our hospitals through the eyes of doctors and nurses as they witness and experience the full spectrum of human emotion with every shift. It is their responsibility to mitigate the grief of a family in mourning calm a patient about to die and confront their own fear of failure when lives are on the line. Whether theyre providing hospice care tending to victims of car accidents or violent attacks determining the correct treatment for someone displaying signs of a heart-attack or stroke and managing staff stress is a doctors number one companion. Cycling through the whirlwind of emotion that accompanies every case isnt only exhaustingit can be fatal. Told using seven key emotionsfear grief joy distraction anger disgust and hopeSeven Signs of Life opens the door and heart of the hectic life inside a hospital to reveal what it means to be alive and how it feels to care for others.