Mastering Intensive Care

In this, the 100th episode, I am joined by my wife, Claire Davies, a person who has quietly shaped Mastering Intensive Care from the very beginning.
Claire's career has evolved from bedside intensive care nursing to ICU liaison nursing, and now to spiritual care, where she works as both a practitioner and educator.
This is not a conversation about religion or faith. Rather, it explores what spiritual care can teach all clinicians about being fully present with another human being. Claire describes how Clinical Pastoral Education transformed the way she understands herself and others, introducing concepts such as compassionate witnessing, deep listening, role boundaries and authentic presence.
Together, we explore how patients and families experience intensive care, why healthcare professionals burn out, and how we might preserve our humanity while working in one of medicine's most demanding environments.
In this episode, we discuss:
Claire's journey from ICU nurse to spiritual care practitioner
The story behind "The Pause"
What Clinical Pastoral Education teaches that healthcare often doesn't
Compassionate witnessing versus trying to fix suffering
Why listening is harder than talking
How clinicians unintentionally shift conversations back to themselves
The importance of vulnerability in healthcare teams
What patients and families actually remember about intensive care
Understanding suffering without needing to solve it
Supporting dying patients and grieving families
Role boundaries and preventing burnout
The small moments that communicate humanity
Why curiosity is often more helpful than certaintyReflections on 100 episodes of Mastering Intensive Care
Although grounded in intensive care, this episode is ultimately about something much broader. What it means to accompany another human through uncertainty, suffering and loss.
I hope you enjoy listening to this thoughtful and deeply human conversation with Claire Davies.
Andrew Davies
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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower you, through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care, to bring your best self to work, with a focus on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.
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Relevant links
Claire Davies on LinkedIn
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on X (Twitter): @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on LinkedIn
Email Andrew Davies
Audio Producer Chris Burke
Burke Sound & Media

From finish-line highs to injury, doubt, and rebuilding.
Over two years ago, Run Larapinta ended in triumph. But the months that followed brought injury, uncertainty, and a slow road back to running.
In this episode, I reconnect with fellow intensivist Ed Litton to reflect on what really happened after we crossed the finish line.
The original Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta series, published over several months in 2023, followed our journey as we prepared for and completed the four-day, 120 km trail running stage race along the spectacular Larapinta Trail in Central Australia. It was a shared adventure and a memorable experience.
But the story didn't end there.
In this recap episode, Ed speaks honestly about the unexpected challenges that followed, including a hip injury that led to months off running, and the psychological impact of losing his confidence. It was a slow rehabilitation, and it taught him important lessons about the patience and humility an endurance runner must have.
It wasn't all roses for me, either, and I talk about the knee injury that temporarily derailed me, and threatened my identity.
This episode serves as a reflection on the Run Larapinta journey and a reminder that the most meaningful lessons from endurance challenges often come after the finish line.
Andrew Davies
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Relevant links
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 1
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 2
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 3
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 4
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 5
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 6
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 7
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 8
Mastering Intensive Challenges - Run Larapinta - Episode 9
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on X (Twitter): @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on LinkedIn
Email Andrew Davies
Audio Producer Chris Burke
Burke Sound & Media

The guest on this episode is Dr Forbes McGain, who speaks about what sustainability really means in healthcare, and why it's inseparable from good medicine. Drawing on his clinical work, research, and experience during COVID-19, Forbes explores how everyday ICU decisions carry environmental consequences, how "less is more" can benefit both patients and the planet, and how sustainability can align with patient safety, staff wellbeing, and cost. The conversation moves from bedside practice to hospital systems and innovation, while also reflecting on communication, mentorship, and what it means to be a thoughtful, humane intensivist.
Forbes is an intensivist, anaesthetist, researcher, and one of the leading voices in sustainable healthcare in Australia. He works clinically at Western Health in Melbourne and is also an Associate Professor of Critical Care and the Associate Dean of Sustainable Healthcare at the University of Melbourne.
In this episode, Forbes speaks about:
How growing up on a farm shaped his connection to nature and medicine
His pathway through anaesthesia and intensive care, and why he still practises both
What sustainability really means in healthcare
Why every decision made on an ICU ward round has an environmental footprint
Thinking in life cycles rather than single-use devices
Practical examples of sustainable practice at the bedside
The principle of "less is more" in intensive care
Micro, meso, and macro approaches to creating change
The central role of nurses in the ICU
Hospital energy use and the case for fully electric hospitals
Innovation during COVID-19, including the McMonty isolation hood
What sustains him personally, and advice for trainees interested in systems change
I hope you enjoy listening to this inspiring conversation with Associate Professor Forbes McGain.
Andrew Davies
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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower you, through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care, to bring your best self to work, with a focus on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.
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Relevant links
A/Prof Forbes McGain on LinkedIn
Healthcare Carbon Lab
Climate CATCH Lab
Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA)
McMonty Hood
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on X (Twitter): @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on LinkedIn
Email Andrew Davies
Audio Producer Chris Burke
Burke Sound & Media

The guest on this episode is Dr Nhi Nguyen, who as a six-year-old escaped Vietnam by boat. Today, she is an intensivist, a healthcare leader, and a voice for purpose and compassion in medicine.
Dr Nhi Nguyen is the Clinical Director of Intensive Care NSW and served as the state's ICU Clinical Advisor during the COVID-19 response. She is closely involved in the Single Digital Patient Record program and is the clinical lead for the Nepean Hospital Redevelopment. Nhi serves on the Boards of the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM).
In this conversation, Nhi shares her remarkable journey - from refugee beginnings to senior leadership in Australian intensive care. She reflects on her family's escape, her early determination not to stand out, and the irony that she now holds these major roles with NSW Health, the CICM and a major hospital redevelopment.
Nhi speaks about the mentors who opened doors, the pivotal choices that shaped her career, and the clarity she has found in defining her purpose. She also recalls her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she helped coordinate intensive care responses across New South Wales under extraordinary pressure.
What shines through is not only Nhi's capability, but her humanity — her focus on compassion, cultural identity, and lifting up those whose potential might otherwise go unseen.
Nhi's is a story of courage, resilience, and humility. And a reminder of what it truly means to be an intensivist.
Thank you for listening.
Andrew Davies
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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower you, through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care, to bring your best self to work, with a focus on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.
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Relevant links
Dr Nhi Nguyen on LinkedIn
Piece on Dr Nhi Nguyen about major award
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on X (Twitter): @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on LinkedIn
Email Andrew Davies
Audio Producer Chris Burke
Burke Sound & Media

The guest on this episode is Professor Rob Mac Sweeney, who founded and leads the hugely valuable organisation Critical Care Reviews.
Rob is a Consultant Intensivist at the Royal Victoria Hospital and an Honorary Professor of Practice at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Rob founded Critical Care Reviews back in 2008 and this has grown to now be holding two meetings a year where the largest trials in critical care are presented, critiqued and analysed. Critical Care Reviews also has a comprehensive website, a podcast and publishes a newsletter and a paper of the day, amongst other things, as a way of disseminating the most up to date science in critical care.
If you are fascinated about the story of the man behind Critical Care Reviews, you'll love listening to this.
In this episode, Rob talks about:
How Critical Care Reviews began as a simple website
His anxiety when he sent the first newsletter
How the website and newsletter developed into a scientific meeting
The attraction of trialists with their RCTs to the growing Critical Care Reviews meeting
The multi-media output of Critical Care Reviews
The importance of a consistent reading habit with the medical literature
The significance of high-quality production values for the Critical Care Reviews meeting
His passion of sharing science to improve patient care
How study investigators gain a slot at a Critical Care Reviews meeting
What he requests from study investigators submitting a study
The magical quality of significant study results being presented for the first time
How Critical Care Reviews expanded to hold a meeting in Melbourne
How he translates evidence into clinical practice
What's unique about his ward round
His thoughts on the teaching and sharing of non-clinical skills
How his family provides solace from work
How he uses running to manage his wellbeing (often in the dark)
And, some closing advice
Please enjoy listening to Rob Mac Sweeeney.
Andrew Davies
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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower you, through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care, to bring your best self to work, with a focus on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.
--------------------
Relevant links
Dr Rob Mac Sweeney
Rob Mac Sweeney on LinkedIn
Critical Care Reviews
Critical Care Reviews 2025 (CCR25) Meeting - June 11-13, 2025
Critical Care Reviews Down Under 2025 (CCR Down Under 2025) Meeting - December 9-10, 2025
Critical Care Reviews Newsletter
Mastering Intensive Care podcast
Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook
Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane
Andrew Davies on X (Twitter): @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on LinkedIn
Email Andrew Davies
Audio Producer Chris Burke
Burke Sound & Media