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A crash course in saving livesM.J. had just eight months to turn a trainee fresh out of school into a nurse ready to care for the most gravely ill patients at one of the nation’s leading hospitals.As a patient's needs multiply, the lessons become intenseFrom the moment Julia, the nurse in training, laid eyes on her severely ill patient, she felt uncertain what to do.Trauma case puts her capacity for clear-headedness to the testIn a two-hour struggle to save a patient injured in an auto accident, Julia finds her feet and gains experience.Time comes to perform on her ownAfter an intense eight-month apprenticeship that's part of an effort to address a critical shortage of nurses, Julia Zelixon is ready to stand on her own in the intensive-care unit. |
Reporter Scott Allen and photographer Michele McDonald
observed the training of first-year nurse Julia
Zelixon for seven months, as she cared for two dozen
desperately ill patients. Hear about their experiences below. Massachusetts General
Hospital allowed the Globe team unrestricted access to
the ICU, on the condition that the patients’ names and
photographs could only be used with their permission
or that of a family member.
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