Joan is a successful intensive care unit physician at a busy New York City hospital. She functions with high efficiency, finding comfort in the clinical logic of medicine and the structured environment of the hospital. Her life is upended by the death of her father and her mother’s return to the United States from China. Simultaneously, the hospital leadership forces her to take a bereavement leave she does not want. As she navigates these familial obligations and an looming respiratory pandemic, Joan maintains a detached, pragmatic perspective on her identity as a first-generation immigrant and a woman in a high-pressure specialty.
This book serves healthcare professionals and readers interested in the internal psychology of medical practice. It provides a look at the trade-offs required for professional excellence and the friction between personal heritage and workplace assimilation. Readers gain a perspective on how clinical detachment functions as a survival mechanism. The narrative offers a portrait of a character who rejects traditional emotional expectations in favor of scientific labor and professional utility.
- Published
- 2022
- Language
- EN
