Resilience in Times of Crisis

What is resilience? It’s not that complicated to put this into words, but what does it look like in daily life? How does one overcome the challenges life throws in one’s way?

Today, I will tell you a story about someone that made me realize what being resilient really means. When I met her, I was instantly drawn to her enthusiastic personality and openness.

And I got to interview her during this challenging time, and even the circumstances of the interview reflect the situation the world is currently facing: we had our conversation over the phone.

Now, what is it that makes her story inspiring to me? What does resilience have to do with this? To me, it’s about accepting that we cannot control everything that happens to us and that there are things way beyond our reach, but it’s our attitude toward each situation that makes the difference between remaining stuck and moving forward.

And being a doctor is the perfect example: you can do your best, but life (or death) often gets in the way, and those are the times when you need to be resilient, overcome your obstacle, and grow.

When it comes to her, she wakes up every day thinking she has to save precious lives.

The physical conditions of her patients are often matters of life and death, and every second counts: it’s a constant battle with death. Not only saving lives was difficult enough as it is, but a new disaster also came upon us. The new coronavirus—a new problem that requires new solutions.

How are we, as people, going to win this battle? And, if we do this battle, does it really mean that we also win the war?

So, obviously, the first question that popped into my mind was “Why did you decide to go to medical school?” And her answer did surely not let me down. 

Sighing, she told me: “That’s a very good question.” After pausing for a short moment, she continued: “I don’t think I would have been able to do anything else. Ever since I was a child I loved everything about medicine, and I felt like helping people and that’s how it all started.”

There was a short moment of silence as if she had been trying to recollect her thoughts, to recall the reason behind her decision.

Then, she said: “I’ve always considered myself a person who loves helping out others, and I could do that by becoming a doctor. Because I like jumping in, lending a helping hand whenever I can. People do often ask me why I decided to become a  doctor, and I never really thought of it that way, it’s just that I love being there for people, offering them my support, and I like knowing that I am able to do something about it when they’re in pain. I could do something else, but I’m sure I wouldn’t like doing that as much as I love doing this. I am actually happy when I go to work, it brings me joy.”

And I couldn’t help but wonder why she decided on this specialization out of all of them.

Without giving it much thought she told me: “My current specialization is anesthesiology at ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and I chose this because it represents the fine line between life and death, and it is very dynamic, you have to be constantly focused, finding the problem and then looking for solutions. The patient won’t come to us telling us what is wrong with them, like ‘I have a headache.’ You have to think for yourself and for that patient because they won’t be able anymore to tell you what is wrong with them the moment they get to ICU. It keeps me energized, I get adrenaline rushes, and I like that… to keep moving and doing something.”

I came to the unsurprising conclusion that it takes a lot of energy and effort to be like that, and not many people are willing to do that, myself included. So, how does she cope with the stress? Does the hard work really pay off, as some might say? How does it really feel to be a doctor?

From her tone of voice, I could tell that she was very confident in her answer: “Very good [my overall experience as being a doctor]. I am lucky enough to be working in a well-developed hospital with great equipment. I’ll rate my experience with an A+.”

But I was convinced that it’s not all fun and games, so what were the challenges she had to overcome in her career so far? It didn’t take her too long to admit that trying to not get attached emotionally to my patients is one of the obstacles she came across.

With a hint of sadness in her voice, she told me “You give it your all in order to save them, but sometimes there is just nothing more that can be done for them, and you lose them. And then you just have to move on. I’m still working on this.”

Controlling our emotions and not letting them get the best of us requires a lot of discipline and self-control. But how does it feel when you end up in situations that didn’t quite occur to you before? How does it feel to break the bad news to someone? How can someone be composed in such difficult moments?

Unfortunately, she had to go through this as well: “Yes, I did have to deliver the bad news to one of my patient’s family, but I did half of the explanations and the rest was done by the other doctor I had been working with at that moment. It’s definitely not a nice experience also because you have to be extra careful with your words. Considering that I’m working in the ICU, the families of my patients are generally well-informed about the patients’ conditions and they usually expect some sort of bad news, like there’s nothing else that can be done for them, it’s just a matter of time, whether they’ll survive or not. Although it was a far-from-good experience, what makes it bearable is the fact that their families are quite understanding of these situations.”

Then I had to know how it was like working under such pressure, taking into account the global health crisis we’ve been facing for almost a year now. How would she describe her experience working in a hospital throughout this period?

After taking a few seconds to think, she explained: “Luckily, I didn’t work with COVID-19 positive patients on a daily basis. However, there were cases in which the patient initially tested negative but it eventually turned into positive, being infected with the virus after being in close contact with other patients or even doctors, a week or two or even more after coming to the ICU.”

She, then, recollected what her coworkers told her about her situation: “My colleagues are telling me that it’s very challenging, working with COVID-19 positive patients, they’re operating at full capacity, working 24-hour shifts, each of them working like this for an entire month, rotating shifts. This is the case for Timișoara, I don’t really know much about the situation in hospitals in other cities. We have enough resources, such as medication, but we’re often overwhelmed by the lack of time and the stress that is pilling up. The staff is insufficient, and the number of patients is three times higher than before the pandemic.”

As expected, medics have to deal with more than just disease and accidents. They have to deal with the national healthcare system itself, and it appears to be a never-ending battle. So what would a professional change in the Romanian healthcare system if they had the power to do so?

How about their job or their part, what would they change about it if they could? For her, apparently, it was a no-brainer: “I don’t even have to think about it, I would renovate and fix existing hospitals, and I would build new medical centers and hospitals. This is what we need right now, to build more hospitals with an increased capacity to treat patients because we were somewhat overwhelmed by this whole situation.”

Once more, I could sense a hint of sadness in her voice. “We were demanded to treat a lot of patients but we didn’t have all the necessary resources at that time, at least. Regarding the fire that broke out at the Balș Institute and the one from the hospital in Piatra Neamț, both happened in the ICU, because the networks were over-solicited, everything from electricity to oxygen. We need to put systems in place, especially in units that deal with life and death cases, such as ICU or surgery rooms.”

After conducting this interview, I looked back on the definition of resilience, and I realized that even when things get messy and it appears that there’s no hope, medics have no other choice but to continue the fight. There is something special about those who risk their lives to save others, and who manage to get right back up after each fall, and that is what I think we all should strive for in our lives.