Mastering Intensive Care

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 conn