Rana Awdish
In Shock
How nearly dying made me a better intensive care doctor
The author, an American intensive doctor on a large hospital, has delivered an overwhelmingly personal and urgent testimony of her own illness and the path to healing. The book tells the story of a struggle with cruel pain, the death of an anticipated child, the experience of clinical death, and how easily the patient loses trust in doctors and how heavily he searches for it. The book appeals to medical staff to abandon a professional habit of forced distance and to learn to participate, compassion and empathic communication with the patient.
This book is intended for both healthcare professionals and lay people as well. We quote from the book: "It took me ten years to figure out I should stand and face the same direction as my patients. That orientation—turning together to face what our patients face—is what allows us to not only bear witness, guide our patients and treat disease, but also to bring more compassion to each moment, a compassion that extends even to ourselves.” Translation Jan Čábela