Fall 2021: Let’s Talk About …Burnout
PCICS Leadership
Associate Editor’s Message November 2021
Burned out on burnout? I’m not surprised. The discussion on burnout has reached a fever pitch over the last two years as professionals in all fields have struggled to adjust to the extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Concern about burnout in pediatric cardiac intensive care, however, long predates the pandemic. Burnout was once…
Executive Message November 2021
Happy fall, y’all! Sharing a glimpse of my southern roots! It’s hard to believe we are 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet, we all remain committed to transforming care and improving outcomes for our patients. We do this despite personal hardships, workplace staffing shortages, and at times, waning morale. Thus, a fall newsletter…
Editorials
Nursing Editorial: Advanced Practice Provider Burnout in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Burnout is real, personal, and costly for all involved in the health care system. Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care (PCICU) Advanced Practice Providers (APP) consistently practice in a high-pace, high-stress environment putting them at high risk for the emotional, mental, and physical manifestations of burnout. The World Health Organization defined nurse burnout as an occupational phenomenon…
Guest Editorial: Am I Too Old for the CICU Night Shift?
At 62 years and post-call from a sleepless night shift, I would say “absolutely not.” I stayed up with a neonate who was status post tracheoplasty a few weeks ago and yesterday underwent LPA sling repair, hilum-to-hilum pulmonary artery reconstruction, and truncus 1A repair. Am I tired? Yes! As Susan Nicolson, a cardiac anesthesiologist at…
Guest Editorial: Towards a Deeper Understanding of Time to Avoid Burnout
Time can be a scarce resource in the ICU. The unpredictable nature of the ICU demands that we always be ready to accommodate a sick patient. Our next patient can be a new patient from our own hospital’s emergency room, ward, or delivery room, or an emergent transfer from another hospital. We are also expected…
Guest Editorial: Go to Sleep, Grandpa
Back in the early 1980s when I was in training, night call was not a major event. We had no work-hour rules and regularly worked 120-hour weeks as residents and fellows. In August 1987, I remember my first week as an attending, I was in the ICU for about 100 hours. My wife said, “I…
Early Career: A New Look at the Sunday Scaries
My typical “Sunday scaries” showed up one day early this weekend, after spending a day furniture shopping with my husband for our new home. When I got home on Saturday night, I realized that I was going to have to spend my entire Sunday doing homework. Yes, real homework! I just started a Master of…
Committees and SIGs
Program Committee Update November 2021
The program committee has had a busy few months preparing and executing the annual meeting….
Finance Committee Update November 2021
PCICS has successfully completed our virtual annual meeting. Thank you to all our members and…
QI-S Committee Update November 2021
Our PCICS Quality Improvement and Safety (QI-S) Committee is excited about various upcoming initiatives and…