Doctors for America

MAY 30, 2025

As physicians, we know that access to these evidence-based tools to prevent severe illness, disability, and death, are essential to the care of our patients and our shared goal to improve the health of all Americans. DFA teaches physicians and medical students advocacy skills and does advocacy at a state and federal level.

Vaccination 65

Vaccination Medical Student Patient-Centered Community 65

GeriPal

AUGUST 31, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary How do people react when they hear they have a serious illness? And some people, in addition or instead, engage in deep introspection on how to make meaning or live with or understand this experience of serious illness. Shock, “like a car is rushing straight at me” (says Bill Gardner on our podcast).

Illness 128

Illness IT Diagnose Medical 128

GeriPal

JUNE 13, 2024

Summary Transcript Summary I always find cachexia in serious illness puzzling. In today’s podcast, we had the opportunity to learn from a renowned expert in palliative care, Eduardo Bruera, about cachexia and anorexia in serious illness. Thank you for that gift to our community and to the patients. That patient past cache.

Illness 133

Illness Patient-Centered Patients IT 133

GeriPal

JUNE 19, 2025

Eric 01:04 So we’re going to be talking about transgender health in older adults and those with serious illness. And so when I had decided to socially, medically, and surgically transition, I had to really sit down with members of the department and really did a lot of in services. And great to meet Jace on here. Sorry, Martha.

Individual 82

Individual Community IT Chronic Condition 82

GeriPal

JULY 28, 2022

GeriPal post on “fast food” style palliative care in chronic critical illness. So at least in my oncology community, I really didn’t have anyone guiding or supporting or mentoring me. Areej: So when I was in college, I had a close friend who had a serious illness and actually died as a result of cancer. Transcript.

Illness 110

Illness Hospital Patient-Centered Patients 110

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

Social workers augment a team’s ability to provide whole-person care, often aiding to identify and meaningfully address the wide variety of challenges and unmet needs faced by individuals and families facing serious illness. We need to figure out how to create this community of palliative care social work scholars.

IT 102

IT Families Family Clinic 102

GeriPal

JANUARY 11, 2024

Summary Transcript Summary Four percent of deaths in Canada are due to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). To be eligible in Canada patients must have a “ grievous and irremediable ” condition, including disability ; they do not have to have a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than 6 months. Four percent. This is Eric Widera.

Illness 144

Illness IT Medical Provider 144

GeriPal

APRIL 13, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary Social connections impact our health in profound ways, whether it is the support we receive from family and friends in navigating serious illness, the joy from shared social activities, or connecting with our community. We’ll talk about is it in medical practice yet? It came after engaging her.

IT 99

IT Community Patient-Centered Medical 99

GeriPal

JULY 21, 2022

Love to talk about also in the serious illness population. But then once it was open, started seeing a lot of other populations: not just our own hospital population, but a lot more just community members calling with concerns about driving. Eric: Well, Terri and Emmy, thank you for joining on this podcast. “Do you guys do this?”

IT 102

IT Families Family Diagnosis 102

GeriPal

OCTOBER 20, 2022

How HHS and ASPE solicit input from clinicians, community leaders, and older adults and how much it impacts policy decisions (spoiler alert: this involvement is CRUCIAL). Alex: And we are also delighted to welcome Devika Nair, who is a nephrologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee Valley VA Healthcare System.

Complication 52

Complication Patient-Centered IT Patients 52

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Emily is a bioethicist in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. And as we all know, for many people there comes a time where they are no longer able to make their own medical decisions. And I know we’re talking a lot about medical decision making. Eric: Lynn or Anne?

Families 98

Families Family Patient-Centered IT 98

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

Today we talk with experts Janet Ho, Sach Kale, and Julie Childers about opioid use disorder and serious illness. Alex 00:27 And we’re delighted to welcome S a ch Kale, who is a palliative care doc at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. But my medical training kicked in. Janet 00:26 Thank you so much.

Patients 73

Patients Clinic Patient-Centered Illness 73

GeriPal

MAY 9, 2024

all of whom focus their efforts on educating the general public about living and dying with a serious illness. He’s a palliative care doctor and he is Medical Director of Palliative Care at Ascension Illinois Palliative Care. We’ve invited: Julie McFadden (aka Hospice Nurse Julie ): Julie is a social media superstar, with 1.5

Education 127

Education IT Illness Healthcare 127

GeriPal

MARCH 7, 2024

And then second, I was someone who was a Parrot Head for years and years and it was just amazing how the community came together. That was really the theme song of how the community came together. He looked very ill. Bubbles Up is following Bubbles Up as the song will elucidate. How do you see the light?

Provider 117

Provider Illness IT Healthcare 117

GeriPal

JANUARY 30, 2025

Alex 01:32 For us, answering that question today, we have Joe Greer, who’s a psychologist and associate professor of psychology at MGH and Harvard Medical School. The patient refuses to ever talk about the fact that this illness could take their life. Alex, who is gonna be answering that question? Vicki, welcome back to GeriPal.

Telehealth 105

Telehealth Patient-Centered IT Patients 105

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

We have two new FDA-approved medications that reduce that amyloid buildup and modestly slow down the progression of the disease. So, the question becomes, what, if anything, should we do differently in the primary care setting to diagnose the disease? But these tests were never designed to diagnose. Great to be back.

Primary Care 96

Primary Care Diagnosis Screening IT 96

GeriPal

MARCH 24, 2023

We also have Joe Shega, who is a hospice physician, and he is a Chief Medical Officer and Vice President at VITAS Healthcare. So initially hospice grew as a non-profit, charity based, community based organization. Reading Ira’s article, it essentially was the VITAS Medical Director job description. I’m excited.

IT 114

IT Provider Patients Families 114

GeriPal

AUGUST 25, 2022

And yet, disenrollment from hospice, either due to patient/family revoking the benefit or stabilization of illness (extended prognosis) is remarkably high for people with dementia among some hospices. Nurse case management, social worker case management, medications, medical equipment, a home health aid, all that stuff goes away.

Families 106

Families Family IT Patients 106

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

For example, we spend the first half talking about a RCT simulation study of clinician verbal and non-verbal communication with a seriously ill patient with cancer. So most of our medical schools have simulation centers. “Oh, I did that because this patient, really concerned he might not be compliant with his medication.

Patient-Centered 111

Patient-Centered Patients IT Healthcare 111

GeriPal

OCTOBER 27, 2022

As a springboard for this conversation we discuss new prognostic models developed to predict (simultaneously) mortality, disability, and mobility impairment ( Alex Lee first author, JAGS ) and mortality for people with dementia residing in the community ( James Deardorff first author, JAMA IM ). . Those have a very, very long time horizon.

IT 95

IT Clinic Screening Patients 95

GeriPal

OCTOBER 3, 2024

I was on a retreat with Guy Micco , who’s been on this podcast several times, and he was teaching a class on death while I was in medical school. What is it about the images of the dying that helps teach medical students? And dying is too big, too profound for any one model, including the medical model. Where can they go?

IT 122

IT Patient-Centered Patients Relationship 122

Annals of Family Medicine

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

Context: Older adults with severe mental illness (SMI) who develop dementia are a particularly complex and understudied population with various healthcare needs. Population Studied: Individuals living in the community aged 65 and older, diagnosed with SMI, who received a first dementia diagnosis between January 2013 and December 2015.

Diagnosis 130

Diagnosis Healthcare Illness Primary Care 130

GeriPal

JUNE 26, 2025

Disruptive events are medical, surgical. I think part of this does stem from a clinical experience and also some of the theoretical models that have evolved around serious illness, you know, to think specifically about dementia. And hospitalization for pneumonia is like a medical event. I have no idea what that is.

Illness 73

Illness Hospital IT Patient-Centered 73

GeriPal

JUNE 6, 2024

Eric 01:13 So we got a lot to cover today on sexuality, sexual health and serious illness. So we got a lot to cover on sexuality, sexual health, and serious illness. I think this is a topic we don’t talk about as much in the context of serious illness. Don, welcome to GeriPal. Don 01:11 Thank you so much.

Illness 130

Illness IT Physicals Patients 130

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

So, for example, everyone who was diagnosed with an advanced or metastatic lung cancer had a prognosis on the order of months. Alex 12:36 And most of our listeners are like clinician, practicing clinicians caring for older adults, people with serious illness. I guess we would say that most trials are superiority trials.

Patient-Centered 119

Patient-Centered IT Patients Hospital 119

GeriPal

APRIL 21, 2022

Poetry helps us grapple with our own experiences of illness. Then it really wasn’t until I got into medicine, medical school and residency, that I discovered poetry per se, and a mentor commented, I think to a number of us on this podcast, Steve McKee introduced me to poetry. Why not live as long as possible?

Patient-Centered 93

Patient-Centered IT Community Illness 93

GeriPal

MAY 1, 2025

One in 10 people with newly diagnosed HIV is an older adult. And I graduated from medical school in the early 80s. And over that first 15 years, which was a very difficult time when there was no treatment at all available, everybody died and usually within months or a year or two of when they were diagnosed. Meredith 09:33 Yes.

Primary Care 94

Primary Care IT Clinic Provider 94

GeriPal

MARCH 27, 2025

The reason I chose this song is because I’m currently working on bringing advanced care planning sessions to the Latino community. In our planning sessions, one of the biggest barriers to advanced care planning in this community is just talking about death. Alex (singing) Alex 02:34 All right, this was a fun one.

Primary Care 79

Primary Care IT Clinic Patient-Centered 79

GeriPal

JULY 25, 2024

The PPS is one of the most widely used prognostic tools for seriously ill patients, but the prognostic estimates given by the PPS are based on data that is well over a decade old. Next, we talk with James Deardorff about whether we can accurately predict nursing home level of care in community-dwelling older adults with dementia.

Families 106

Families Family Patient-Centered Patients 106

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

If you are interested in learning more and meeting a community of folks interested in hospital-at-home, check out the hospital-at-home user group at hahusersgroup.org or some of these publications: Hospital-Level Care at Home for Acutely Ill Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. You can broaden the scope of diagnoses.

Hospital 115

Hospital Patient-Centered Supply Chain IT 115

PEMBlog

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Non medical exemptions accounted for over 93 percent of these exemptions. So again, you are treating with antibiotics to prevent more people from getting sick, more so than shortening the duration of illness. And we need to broadly improve and ensure access to vaccinations through our community clinics. And 14 states in the U.

IT 52

IT Vaccination Diagnosis Complication 52