Physicians' Reactions to Training in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Physician trainees working in a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) were interviewed early in their training experience, at the end of their training, and 1 to 12 months after their training had ended. Pediatricians responded significantly differently from anesthesiologists: they commented more often about their own feelings, and less often about procedural-intellectual-technical matters as contrasted with feelings and relationships. Pediatricians were also more likely than anesthesiologists to mention their own emotional reactions to ill children, their sense that patient death meant physician failure, and their dismay early in the training period about the stressful intensity of the work. Physicians who were parents differed from those who were not parents by commenting more frequently about their work with the parents of patients, and about the necessity for teamwork. Physician trainees interviewed early in the training period were less reflective about the experience, and less likely to comment on feelings and relationships, compared to those interviewed later. Analysis of the sources of satisfaction and discontent with work in the ICU, as stated by the physician trainees, has been useful in efforts to improve the climate of work and learning in the unit, and to provide optimal patient care.