Journal of Palliative Medicine

Reminder to Self

Jared Porter — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:28:39 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about advance-care planning lately. (For the last few years, truth be told.)This isn’t just advice for Everyone Else. It applies to me, too. It’s not that I’m unwilling to think about something happening to me. In fact, I worry more about my wife in a situation like that. If something happens to me, she wouldn’t have my written wishes to follow. To say she would agonize would be an understatement.

JPM Honors All Mothers Worldwide: Happy Mother’s Day

VJ Periyakoil, MD, Senior Associate Editor, JPM — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:13:11 +0000

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.

Advancing by Example

Nicole Johnson LCSW — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:35:45 +0000

This week we challenge those providers/those providers that you work alongside to consider how encouraging clients to complete Advance Directives would be different if you had this personal experience. Would you be more likely to discuss this option if you too experienced the emotions attached to thinking of your final days?

Importance of Communication in the ICU

Melissa Garrido PhD — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:42:49 +0000

When my father was in the ICU three years ago, I was uninformed about survival chances with CPR. I was thankful for the ICU physician who reached out to me and explained what CPR entailed and that, for my father, CPR would not improve his chances of survival.

The Power of Dreams in Palliative Care Organization Success

Kenneth Mortimer, MHA, MSW — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:14:45 +0000

I’ve spent a lot of time reading about and listening to speakers talk about leadership. It seems like the management literature is rife with opinions on what a great leader should do to make their organization successful. Obviously, success is defined in a myriad of ways. Market share, revenue, website hits, and customer satisfaction survey results are just a few. That got me thinking…what makes a Palliative Care organization successful?

Patients Encourage Patients to Complete Advance Care Planning: 90 second video on National Healthcare Decision Day 2012

VJ Periyakoil, MD, Senior Associate Editor, JPM — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 03:38:43 +0000

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.

Can we talk?: Veterans participate enthusiastically in National Health Care Decisions Day

VJ Periyakoil, MD, Senior Associate Editor, JPM — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:38:40 +0000

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

Can we talk?: National Health Care Decisions Day is a gentle reminder to think about Advance Care Planning

VJ Periyakoil, MD, Senior Associate Editor, JPM — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:20:10 +0000

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.

Reclaiming Life On One’s Own Terms: Post Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Deborah Sherman NP — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:43:46 +0000

Based on a group of 15 women who were recruited online from the Share website, we developed a theory which identifies the process of breast cancer survivorship as a process marked and shaped by time, as well as by perceptions of support which can be positive or negative. The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is described as the “Turning Point” or stimulus for change. Life is described as before and after breast cancer and is marked by weeks, months, and years following diagnosis and treatment. Over time, breast cancer is recognized as “a part of life” as women “learn to live with breast cancer,” and eventually “create a new life after breast cancer.”

Increasing Physician Referrals

Tasha Beauchamp, Family Caregiver Advocate — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 07:04:30 +0000

Here are ten steps to increase your hospice referrals. These are from the notes of Tasha Beauchamp from her recent learning from an NHPCO conference

April 16th is National Healthcare Decisions Day

Tasha Beauchamp, Family Caregiver Advocate — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:01:38 +0000

"All that is certain in life is Death and Taxes." -- Benjamin Franklin You've taken care of one. Let's talk about the other

That Look

Donal Kevin Gordon MD — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 02:47:49 +0000

You know what I know. That look, from patients, that is. You walk into the room, start to explain who you are, what you do. “We’re part of the Palliative Care team…” All at once you watch your patient’s eyes widen,

Dr. Atul Gawande at NHPCO Conference

Tasha Beauchamp, Family Caregiver Advocate — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:06:43 +0000

Dr. Gawande said that his picture of hospice was the people with the IV morphine. Thus, he was surprised when a very energetic, 29 year old hospice nurse arrived asking his patient, “How may I help you today?”

What I Do and Why I Do It: A Palliative Perspective

Donal Kevin Gordon MD — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:48:40 +0000

I didn’t go to medical school until I was 49 years old, finally fulfilling a long-held dream that had also come to include being a country doc in Vermont, where we then lived (that I remain in Iowa, teaching residents, doing Palliative Medicine is a tale for another post). Before that, in my previous career, I had been a writer, penning books on behalf of the likes of Time-Life Books, National Geographic and Reader’s Digest, in addition to writing advertising copy for those companies and many, many others.

Substitute Decision Makers and the decisions they have to make

Kathy Kastner- Health Educator — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:03:38 +0000

I had a conversation with a friend who said “No way is hubby assigned that task: he’d want to keep me alive no matter what – even if my wishes clearly state DNR and no heroic measures. I’ve made, as my surrogate, a good friend who’s on my same wave-length.” Made me smile when my friend then tried to talk me out of one of my own decisions: not to have artificial feeding. “But,” Said she “ A PEG’s just a simple incision, not like a NG. You’d barely notice.”