A Thursday night in 2005. As an intern in critical care medicine I was on duty at the emergency department. Our team went out for a car accident. When we arrived, we saw several children in a crashed car. One little 6 year old boy had a severe brain trauma. We put our emotions aside (as we always have to do) and did our job. As the adrenaline disappeared I felt left alone, emotional, insecure. Nobody did care about the junior doctor because ‘doc’s are trained for that & are always ok’.
A Sunday night in 2018. As a specialist in critical care medicine I was on duty in the hospital. A baby boy collapsed. On adrenalin our team worked very intense and hard. We put our emotions aside and did our job. As the adrenaline disappeared I saw the tears in the eyes of several fellow healthcare workers. I felt empty and exhausted. When I put on my jacket to return home after my shift, a colleague asked: ‘Doc, are you ok?”. This one sentence instantly changed the whole night from a unpleasant experience into a human one. To feel that somebody really cared. To realise that it is ok to be human and empathic. To be grateful of being part of a team that cares. Thanks to my team for keeping that human touch!