Sep 23, 2019
Have you visited any of your past patients or their families in their homes?
Would this be difficult?
What might you learn?
Medicine is mostly a series of stories of people’s lives. This is a
privilege we often overlook. In Intensive Care we usually only have
a glimpse into each life, an almost unrecognisable flash of
physical suffering, medical procedure, bedside vigil and hopefully
recovery, but sadly we often miss the end of the story. What
happened to that person? Did they recover? Did they regain their
previous life? What do they remember?
Dr Matt Morgan, a Welsh Intensivist, didn’t enjoy missing the end of these stories, and he wasn’t sure that laypeople really understood what we do in the ICU. So he took it upon himself to visit some of the patients or their families who he had helped care for in the Intensive Care Unit. And what he learned helped him write his recently published book “Critical - science and stories from the brink of life”.
Matt is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital of Wales, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff University in the UK. After completing medical school in Cardiff, where he still lives and works, Matt studied ethics at Bristol University, served as a junior doctor in the RAF, and subsequently chose the path of intensive care medicine, training in the UK and Australia, and completing a PhD. Matt is passionate about public engagement and has contributed to multiple scientific articles.
The book “Critical” takes readers on a tour around the intensive care unit, meeting some of his most interesting and memorable cases. These stories include a pregnant woman who survived for weeks without a heart beat, the son of a police officer who was critically injured in a drug lab explosion, a judge who returns to the court room where he needed CPR, and an 18-year-old student who sadly died from sepsis after a trip to Africa. Throughout the book, Matt also highlights public health messages like the importance of bystander CPR, the harms of alcohol, the benefits of organ donation and how medicine is currently battling what should be done with what can be done.
In this podcast conversation you’ll hear Matt speak about his new book, and also about:
Matt is an excellent writer with a gift for describing disease and concepts very simply. He speaks articulately too. Please enjoy listening to Matt Morgan.
Andrew Davies
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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast is aimed to inspire and empower you to bring your best self to the intensive care unit, through conversations with thought-provoking guests. I hope you’ll glean insights to help you improve as a healthcare professional and as a human being so you can make a truly valuable contribution to your patient’s lives.
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Links to people, organisations and other resources mentioned:
Book “Critical” (by Matt Morgan)
Blog piece “The ward round is broken” (by Matt Morgan)
Blog piece “Burnout in healthcare workers - are we surprised” (by Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan)
Other BMJ blog pieces by Matt Morgan
Book “Why we Sleep” (by Matt Walker)
Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 40 with Ed Litton
Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 41 with Rana Awdish
Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 46 with Deborah Cook
2019 World Congress of Intensive Care Medicine
New Normal Project podcast - Episode 56 with Brad Dalrymple
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66