Where Night Is Day: The World of the ICU
James Kelly
Abstract
This book is a nonfiction narrative grounded in the day-by-day, hour-by-hour rhythms of an intensive care unit (ICU) in a teaching hospital in the heart of New Mexico. It takes place over a thirteen-week period, the time of the average rotation of residents through the ICU. It is the story of patients and families, suddenly faced with critical illness, who find themselves in the ICU. The book describes how they navigate through it and find their way, acting as a sensitive witness to the quiet courage and resourcefulness of ordinary people. The book leads the reader into a parallel world: the w ... More
This book is a nonfiction narrative grounded in the day-by-day, hour-by-hour rhythms of an intensive care unit (ICU) in a teaching hospital in the heart of New Mexico. It takes place over a thirteen-week period, the time of the average rotation of residents through the ICU. It is the story of patients and families, suddenly faced with critical illness, who find themselves in the ICU. The book describes how they navigate through it and find their way, acting as a sensitive witness to the quiet courage and resourcefulness of ordinary people. The book leads the reader into a parallel world: the world of illness. This world, invisible but not hidden, not articulated by but known by the ill, does not readily offer itself to our understanding. In this context, the book reflects on the nature of medicine and nursing, on how doctors and nurses see themselves and how they see each other. Drawing on the words of medical historians, doctor-writers, and nursing scholars, the book examines the relationship of professional and lay observers to the meaning of illness, empathy, caring, and the silence of suffering. In doing so, the book offers up an intimate portrait of the ICU and its inhabitants.
Keywords:
intensive care unit,
ICU,
teaching hospital,
New Mexico,
critical illness,
patients,
families,
illness,
empathy,
suffering
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801451683 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801451683.001.0001 |
