Aug 9, 2017
Is the patient the centre of every action you take in the ICU? Do you exude calm and enthusiastic energy and greet other team members warmly and genuinely? Do you seek pleasure in seeing colleagues grow to become more skilled than you are?
These are 3 questions you might ask yourself after you listen to this episode with Professor Julia Wendon, a well respected intensivist from the United Kingdom. Julia gives great advice on how helping people converse with each other, often by picking up the phone and demonstrating good consultant to consultant communication can be really valuable in helping a patient receive the best care. She also outlines exemplary behaviour such as saying hello to the patient, whether they are intubated or not, and then telling them the plan after the ward round review.
Julia, from King’s College London in the United Kingdom, is Professor of Hepatology, Executive Medical Director, and a highly experienced intensive care physician. Her appointment at King’s began as a consultant in 1992 and since then she has played a key role in the development of the internationally respected King’s liver service, including the expansion of the hospital's intensive care bed capacity. Her primary clinical areas of interest are severe liver injury, multi-organ failure, immune dysfunction and the role of extracorporeal therapies for the management of acute liver failure. She is a respected academic, has published over 150 papers, and is regularly invited to lecture at national and international conferences.
Julia is an articulate, thoughtful, caring and compassionate intensivist, as well as a tremendous stage presenter. Julia was an international speaker at the Australian and New Zealand CICM ASM in Sydney in May 2017 and this gave me a brilliant opportunity to interview her. Having helped to develop a world-leading liver ICU service at King’s, Julia gives highly useful reflections on how noone can achieve anything without colleagues and great teamwork; smiling, saying hello and thank you is an important role of being a consultant leader; seeking second opinions is a really valuable regular practice to make sure we aren’t missing anything; learning from trainees who have come from other continents and cultures is a huge privilege; looking after patients should always come before attending hospital meetings; and how she revels in allowing less experienced people to step forward and grow so that they can eventually overtake her. Also hear Julia speak about how:
With this podcast, and the previous episodes, please help me in my quest to improve patient care, in ICUs all round the world, by inspiring all of us to bring our best selves to work to more masterfully interact with our patients, their families, ourselves and our fellow healthcare professionals so that we can achieve the most satisfactory outcomes for all. It would be much appreciated if you helped spread the word by simply emailing your colleagues or posting on social media.
If you want to send a comment or respond to something Julia said on this episode, feel free to email me andrew@masteringintensivecare.com, leave a comment on the Mastering Intensive Care podcast page on LITFL or on Facebook, or post on twitter using the hashtag #masteringintensivecare.
Thanks so much for listening. Please give your patients the very best care you can, and take care of yourself too.