A Narrative‑Informed ICU Humanizing Intervention: Trainee Perspectives on the ‘Get to Know Me Board’

The high-acuity environment of the intensive care unit (ICU) has the potential to erode the humanistic connection between clinicians and critically ill patients. Admission to an ICU places patients at risk for dehumanization-treating a person as if they do not possess the attributes of human beings. Physician trainees, while developing skills in professionalism and communication, may be especially vulnerable to losing sight of their patients' personhood amid the cognitive demands of ICU care. Humanizing interventions offer a feasible way to re‑center personhood and connection. The 'Get to Know Me Board' (GTKMB) is a narrative-informed intervention that helps clinicians understand the individual behind the illness. In this manuscript, we synthesize the existing literature on GTKMBs and describe our own implementation in a New York City ICU during the COVID‑19 pandemic. We qualitatively explored how residents perceived the impact of the GTKMBs on their engagement with patients, families, and their own sense of meaning in ICU work. Trainees self-reported that the GTKMB helped them connect more deeply with patients, strengthened their sense of responsibility for patient welfare, and increased their fulfillment from work. Implementation was feasible but required intentional coordination and a reliable GTKMB champion. Our findings highlight the potential role of narrative‑informed, humanizing practices in supporting trainee development and fostering a culture of dignity and respect in the ICU. We discuss opportunities for integrating GTKMBs into competency‑based medical education frameworks and outline future directions for evaluating their impact on trainee well‑being, communication, and patient‑ and family‑centered outcomes.