I’ve written before on Colt’s Corner about resilience in medicine, mostly in the context of endurance, burnout, and recovery. Recently however, I found myself returning to the question from a different direction, less as a skill to be cultivated and more as an ethical stance based on human connection. 

After a recent lecture, several nurses and physicians spoke about what remains after a patient dies. They asked how one can resume work after facing therapeutic failures repeatedly or after suffering the emotional toll of sustained compassionate caregiving. Their questions led me to revisit resilience not as toughness, but as a form of presence that allows compassion without collapse. 

For those interested in a more contemplative examination of the subject, I explored these reflections more fully in a recent essay on Substack: What Remains After a Patient Dies.

If you like what you read, please follow me and subscribe to The Art of Being Human on SUBSTACK