Honoring Our Frontline Heroes: Celebrating National Critical Care Month

Each May, we pause to honor the extraordinary physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals who dedicate their lives to the field of critical care. National Critical Care Awareness and Recognition Month is a time to reflect on the challenges and victories experienced in ICUs across the country — and more importantly, to recognize the resilience, compassion, and expertise of the people who make critical care possible.

As internists, we know that critical care medicine is not just a specialty — it’s a calling. Whether you're responding to a code blue, managing a complex multi-organ failure patient, or having difficult conversations with families, your work demands not only clinical excellence but also emotional strength and deep humanity.

As I onboard new 3rd year students to the clerkship, I always reflect and share why I love being a physician. I speak about the privilege of helping patients and families in times of great vulnerability. This could not be truer of our critical care colleagues.

Over the past few years, the world has come to understand more clearly what we in medicine have always known: critical care teams are the backbone of emergency and intensive medicine. You've weathered unimaginable storms — from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to the daily challenges of limited resources and high patient acuity — all while continuing to provide life-saving care under pressure. In addition, your leadership in multidisciplinary teams sets the standard for collaboration in healthcare.

Above all, to our intensivists and ICU care teams: thank you.

With deep respect and gratitude,

Susan