November 22, 2012 | 
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Dr. Ira Byock’s Opinion on Physician Assisted Suicide
Where do you stand on the issue of legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide? Watch this special 5 min video by Palliative Care Pioneer Dr. Ira Byock Read the rest of this entry »
Can We Talk? Helping our loved ones express their end-of-life wishes
Crucial end-of-life conversations which should ideally occur in a non-crisis time in the comfort of our homes unfortunately happen during a time of medical crisis in the chaos of the hospital.
When we are in crisis mode, we tend to “go with the medical flow”. As the current healthcare default is heavily slanted towards initiating medical technology without much deep thought about the benefits and burdens of such treatment, many patients are subjected to ineffective, burdensome treatments and interventions that may not be congruent with their goals of care. Read the rest of this entry »
“A Palette of Care”: Haslinger Pediatric Palliative Care Center (Guest Post by Dr. Sarah Friebert)
At the Haslinger Family Pediatric Palliative Care Center, each child and family can pick and choose the colors they need or want to create the most beautiful painting possible of life and hope. This image was inspired by two simultaneous events: a letter received from one of our bereaved mothers, thanking us for the care we provided for her son, and a watercolor painting done by a young artist in our program, who was dying of a rare spinal cord tumor but who brought forth onto a canvas the image of a palette of colors as she depicted what palliative care had meant to her and her family during her journey. Read the rest of this entry »
“Leadership is an affair of the heart!”: Stanford HPM Graduation Keynote on Leadership by Barry Posner PhD, co-author of “The Leadership Challenge”
“Leadership begins with you and your belief in yourself” says Dr. Posner. He describes leadership as a broadly available resource that anyone can manifest, no matter how young, how isolated or with limited resources. He uses a real life anecdote… Read the rest of this entry »
JPM Honors All Mothers Worldwide: Happy Mother’s Day
The unconditional love and compassion that is the cardinal aspect of a Mother's expression of her caring is also a key premise of palliative care. We take the opportunity today to thank all mothers worldwide for teaching us the caring and compassion we show all our patients and families. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Art of healing, Celebration, General, Geriatrics, Grief, Holistic healing, Humanistic medicine, Humanities, National Holidays, Opinions, Patient Centered Care | 
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Patients Encourage Patients to Complete Advance Care Planning: 90 second video on National Healthcare Decision Day 2012
Watch this 90 second video about National Healthcare Decision Day, April 16, 2012. In this patients advocate enthusiastically for advance care planning. There goes another myth that patients resist completing advance directives. Read the rest of this entry »
Can we talk?: Veterans participate enthusiastically in National Health Care Decisions Day
April 17, 2012, will be the fifth annual National Healthcare Decisions Day.
The goal of this nationwide initiative is to ensure that all adults with decision-making capacity in America have both the information and the opportunity to communicate and document their future healthcare decisions. In the brief video posted, Veterans advocate enthusiastically for completing Advance Care Planning Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Access to care, Advocacy, Caregiver, Celebration, Communication, Education, Patient Centered Care, Veterans | 1 Comment »
Can we talk?: National Health Care Decisions Day is a gentle reminder to think about Advance Care Planning
ACP wishes are dynamic and likely to change as people advance thru their life trajectory. Even if the wishes of the person is likely to change, the conversation is always helpful as early as it can be had as it gives time for people to marinate over their decisions and integrate the philosophical principles into their thinking framework. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Advocacy, Patient Centered Care, Psycho-social, Quality of life, Social Work | Comments Closed
Celebration & Hospice Care: Happy Paddy’s Day
Many patients have led full lives and the final chapter of a long, happy and successful life is cause for celebration. Strange as it may sound, I have seen many of my patients retain their "Wellness" in the face of terminal "Illness" and impending death. My patients have also taught me that it is possible to retain your dignity and equanimity even when you are right in the middle of a tête-à-tête with death. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Celebration, Patient Centered Care, Psycho-social, Quality of life, Reflective practice, Religion Religious, Spirituality, Team, Veterans | Comments Closed
ACGME’s Next Accreditation System: Call to Action to Hospice & Palliative Medicine Programs
HPM is uniquely situated to lead the key national effort towards competency based education, especially in the ACGME domains of Practice Based Learning and Systems Based Practice. We have much to do, much to learn and much to teach our colleagues in other sub-specialties. It is hoped that the all the leaders in various venues practicing palliative care will step up to the plate and join us in this national effort. Read the rest of this entry »
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
George Bernard Shaw once said that “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
So here is what happened. A patient with escalating pain was admitted with the goal of rapid pain control with parenteral analgesics...... Read the rest of this entry »
Auguries of Innocence: The patient in front of me and one third of eternity
After feeling helpless for a long time ( during patient encounters where we are always pressed for time) , for the past two years I have tried a different strategy with modest success. Instead of fighting against time, I have taken Poet William Blake's counseling to heart Read the rest of this entry »
Prometheus’ Predicament Part 3 of 3: Happily ever after in hospice
The patient told his doctor that he would likely start binge drinking if left to his own devices in his home and wants to be in the palliative care unit or a nursing home setting. How does one find a nursing home bed for an able bodied (relatively speaking) middle aged person? Read the rest of this entry »
Prometheus’ Predicament Part 2 of 3: Prognostication in ETOH Hepatitis
Key prognostic indicators in ETOH hepatitis include the Maddry Discriminant Function and MELD scores. The DF helps in determining management strategy as well with the DF cut off of 32 ..... read more... Read the rest of this entry »
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