The Aging Intensivist and Business Management

Abstract

It was the academic year 1971/1972 and I was a straight Medicine intern at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. I had graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and had cardiology in the back of my mind for fellowship training. Fourteen members of the UC class of 106 went to Good Samaritan because of its strong teaching program in Medicine. There were ICU rotations in a 16-bed intensive care unit and patients intubated on pressure-limited ventilators. We had arterial lines connected to mercury columns and Swan-Ganz catheters connected to water columns. Unfortunately, we had no idea what we were doing in the ICU and little to no supervision of our diagnostic and therapeutic plans. The hospital had an open heart surgery program which provided expertise from anesthesia, cardiology, and cardiac surgery. The specialty of Critical Care was in the birthing process, and we all did the best we could to learn and provide good care. By the end of the year, I had a sense I wanted to work in the ICU but assumed that would happen through cardiology.