Ben Editor

Working in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) is similar to being on the battlefield, where the situation can turn on a pinhead and split-second decisions can make the difference between life or death. Can you imagine what it was like when Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale was pioneering intensive care treatment for wounded soldiers over 150 years ago? Nowadays

ICU workers have sophisticated technology and decades of advanced medical knowledge at their disposal, but taking care of critically ill patients is no less demanding, as our interview with the lead consultant of an ICU reveals in our special feature on page 20.