Vital signs [[electronic resource] ] : stories from intensive care / / Ken Hillman

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910785364003321
• Autore: Hillman Ken
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Sydney, Australia, : New South, 2009
• ISBN: 1-74223-096-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (262 pages)
• Disciplina: 616.028
• Soggetti: Intensive care units; Emergency medical technician and patient; Critically ill - Care
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "A New South book"
• Nota di contenuto: 1. The angel of dying -- 2. A colonial at Barts -- 3. Ageing doctors -- 4. The elephants' graveyard -- 5. The myth of CPR -- 6. An interesting case of blue feet -- 7. And the blood goes round and round -- 8. Orchestrating deaths -- 9. Father of the year -- 10. When things go wrong -- 11. The wonderful gut -- 12. The labels on the pack -- 13. The last photograph -- 14. Michelle and the life-support machine -- 15. Some ethical issues -- 16. When the muscles won't work -- 17. Pathos -- 18. Euphemisms -- 19. Spectacular successes -- 20. Fatima and John: the difficulty in dying -- 21. The worst injury of all -- 22. Patient-centred care; 23. Getting it wrong -- 24. Surviving the experience -- 25. Dying by other names.
• Sommario/riassunto: This gripping collection of stories about the experiences of intensive care patients, their families and carers, is about ordinary people facing terrible tragedies and the ways they cope with them. The author, an experienced intensive care clinician, takes the reader on a journey inside an intensive care unit and reveals to the public, for the first time, what really happens inside ICU. The book traces the personal experiences of ICU patients and their families and the struggles of staff providing care in this critical environment. It also offers a searing critique of the way modern healthcare can fail those in greatest need.