What does it take for a healthcare worker to keep going nearly 2 years into this pandemic? A few words come to mind: perseverance, sacrifice, grit.
2021 was a high-stakes year. The pandemic raged on, vaccines were rolled out and a great deal of controversy ensued, and our modern political landscape became more volatile than ever, to say the least. But none of that changed our core mission: to continue giving our patients the care that they deserve.
To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. That's how clinicians are getting by. This Thanksgiving, our second in a post-COVID world, I am reflecting on how we gather the strength to keep going.
Recently, I rushed into the hospital at 2 AM to help my resident respond to simultaneous stroke codes. Believe it or not, both patients had right middle cerebral artery occlusions. While simultaneous thrombectomies proceeded, I needed to figure out where these patients could go for safe monitoring following their procedures. Our neurology ICU was full, and the medical and surgical ICUs weren't doing much better.
I called the medicine consult residents for help, expecting them to be stressed and frustrated with my request.
