communication

dylan thomas … & the palliative care box …

… MacAuley’s excellent essay on “Patients who make ‘wrong’ choices” … ”Ironically, for all of palliative care’s talk of total suffering, we may be unwilling to accept that a patient’s emotional suffering over choosing a palliative course of treatment may be more severe than eventual projected physical suffering from an aggressive course … In the

dylan thomas … & the palliative care box … Read More »

what musicians can teach doctors …

… Frank Davidoff in a recent Annals of Internal Medicine “Music Lessons” … “Recognition of music’s laserlike focus on performance could help us regain a more appropriate balance in medicine between knowledge and performance (between knowing and knowing how).” Perfect practice makes perfect … “Endless performance without feedback drifts into stagnation, whereas endless reflecting and

what musicians can teach doctors … Read More »

compassionate honesty …

… Loprinzi and colleagues review a series of articles from the Journal of Clinical Oncology which addresses how to have difficult conversations (giving bad news, making life decisions). A recurrent theme highlights the importance of the physician working through his/her own needs and issues … eg “The article presents data from behavioral research that documents

compassionate honesty … Read More »

our culture impedes a loving knowledge …

… “The culture in which we find ourselves … impedes [a] loving knowledge: it imposes another, wrong kind of knowledge … Because this culture separates us from our experience as we have felt it … it cuts off this relationship of ours with experience.” Julian Carron The Destiny of Man 2004 – quoting Luigi Giussani

our culture impedes a loving knowledge … Read More »