Palliative care focuses on improving a patient’s quality of life by managing pain and other distressing symptoms of a serious illness. Palliative care should be provided along with other medical treatments. Hospice is palliative care for patients in their last year of life. Hospice care can be provided in patients’ homes, hospice centers, hospitals, longterm […]
aligning treatment with patient needs … Read More »
… factors that influence decision makers’ perceptions of prognosis … Boyd et al sought to determine what sources of knowledge family members/decision makers use when determining the prognosis of their loved ones. “Less than 2% (3 of 179) of surrogates reported that their beliefs about the patients’ prognoses hinged exclusively on prognostic information provided to
it’s not just what the doctor tells me … Read More »
… higher costs in LA for the seriously ill related to 35% more hospital beds as well as more traditional hospice delivery model. Quality measures favored San Diego. Related editorial describes this medical torture. Related editorial in today’s NEJM.
build it and they will come … Read More »
… Fineberg etal present an empirically derived model of family conferences. Core aspects include conference organization, negotiation, personal stance and emotional work … all working toward meaningful connections with those involved. “Emotion work during the family conference appears to function as a crucial gatekeeper to achieving the desired outcome for the meeting.” Fineberg etal. Communication with Families
core aspects of family conferences … Read More »
… of symptom control in hospice & palliative medicine. These apply equally well anywhere on the care spectrum … we are always matching our care to patient and family goals. Alvarez & Walsh. Symptom control … Am J Hosp Pall Care 2011: 28: 203
“Good evening,” said the little prince courteously. “Good evening,” said the snake. “What planet is this on which I have come down?” asked the little prince. “This is the Earth; this is Africa,” the snake answered. “Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?” “This is the desert. There are no people in the
it is also lonely among men … Read More »
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid. —T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Christopher Hitchens writes about the loss of his voice in his continuing journey with esophageal cancer … “In
hitchens loses his (physical) voice … Read More »
… how nourishing it can be to sit with a person in their 80s and listen to the stories of their life. What’s refreshing about a person of this age is that pride and vanity have largely fallen away from their faces and they gaze on the world in a less defensive, more open, more childlike way.
honoring & following … the elderly … Read More »
The play ‘Wit’ will be performed today and this weekend at Bethel College. “Unless we are prepared to deal with these issues of dignity and forgiveness in our own lives, we will not be able to deal with issues of dignity and forgiveness in the lives of those we serve. We share Vivian Bearing’s [the
Wit … and forgiveness … Read More »
In the Middle Ages, the figure of the sick man identifies the poor, the outcast and the man in need. Disease is the feature of a particular social class and therapy coincides with assistance to the poor, and with the charitable care of poverty. Poverty itself is defined “morborum genitrix (the mother of diseases)” and the sick man is
