I hear so many people say, “I don’t know how you do your job as a pediatric ICU nurse.”

The advice I hear from so many around me about how to last for the long haul in this profession usually runs along the following lines:

“Leave work at work.”

“When you clock out, you have to just leave your patients behind.”

And at the same time, I hear just about every healthcare worker say, “I’ll never forget patient X. I can’t stop wondering about how patient Y is. Patient Z’s story left an impact on me.”

This all left me so confused, when I was a young nurse. Is compartmentalization really the answer? And if so, why isn’t is working for me?

My talk at the 2023 End Well Symposium delves into these questions, and proposes a whole different way that allows us to be human.