Reflections of a Grady Doctor

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

I implore you to do whatever it takes to get on the other side of that complicated. If you fall ill and can't speak for yourself? Because if illness falls, it WILL call for y'all to interact. The good news is that I see lots of long term partners who navigate life-threatening illnesses well with families.

Illness 52

Illness Relationship IT Insurance 52

GeriPal

JUNE 8, 2023

When I’m on palliative care consults and attending in our hospice unit we have to counsel patients about deprescribing and de-intensifying diabetes medications. And we invited Tamryn Gray from the Dana Farber joins us to ask insightful questions, including: What blood sugar range should we target for patients in the nursing home or hospice?

Diabetes 73

Diabetes Management Patient-Centered Family 73

Annals of Family Medicine

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

Context: People with serious mental illness (SMI) are at increased risk of complications and earlier death from comorbid chronic diseases, compared with patients without mental illness.

Chronic Disease Management 130

Chronic Disease Management Chronic Disease Illness Management 130

Dr. Michael Bazel

APRIL 29, 2025

Why Preventive Care for Men Matters Preventive care isn’t just about treating illness when it arises; it’s about staying one step ahead of it. He helps patients in Valley Village, Panorama City , and Bell, CA, stay on top of their health year after year. Early detection helps prevent complications and protects your partners.

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Screening Illness Checkup Primary Care Doctor 130

PEMBlog

OCTOBER 2, 2024

I’ll make the important distinction between gastritis – which is diagnosed only via endoscopy – and dyspepsia, the term best used to describe the symptoms many patients experience. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is when the patients have severe symptoms that persist and cause long term issues.

Diagnosis 52

Diagnosis Management Patient-Centered Diagnose 52

Mesa Family Physician

MARCH 13, 2025

However, at Mesa Family Physicians , we believe that preventive healthcare is the cornerstone of long-term wellness for our Mesa, Arizona community. Regular visits to your primary care physician at Mesa Family Physicians provide opportunities for early detection of potential health issues before they become serious problems.

Family Physician 100

Family Physician Preventive Care Preventative Care Family 100

Mere Mortal MD

MAY 22, 2025

People are not usually fond of hospitals, especially if they happen to be the patient. So, the hospital is really not a place anyone wants to hang out for very long, and very rarely are patients hesitant to leave. These patients may end up under my care at the rehabilitation hospital. Thanks for reading Mere Mortal MD!

Hospital 221

Hospital Patients Nurse Practitioner IT 221

StorytellERdoc

MARCH 18, 2020

Gone are the carefree smiles, the uncomplicated daily lives, and the thought that we and our families are immune to unexpected death. Friends and family have asked me my thoughts on Covid-19, maybe believing I have some special information simply from being on the front lines. Be patient when you are frustrated.

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ER Illness Physicals Provider 100

GeriPal

JUNE 27, 2024

How, though, do we navigate anxiety and help our patients who may end up in the anxiety spiral that becomes so hard to get out of? I have so many questions, and I promise we’re going to get to the management of anxiety and serious illness. Widera and Smith have no relationships to disclose. Alex Gamble, do you have a song?

Illness 129

Illness IT Diagnosis Patient-Centered 129

Mesa Family Physician

MARCH 6, 2025

Unlike appointments that address specific illnesses or injuries, preventive care visits focus on screening for potential health issues, assessing your overall wellness, and helping you establish healthy habits before problems develop. I encourage all my patients to prioritize these visits, even when feeling perfectly healthy.”

Preventive Care 100

Preventive Care Preventative Care Appointment Screening 100

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Coping in the setting of serious illness. Coping in the setting of a serious illness about a patient encounter you had with somebody who used an. You probably haven’t read in a while what that patient encounter was like. Coping is something that we see our patients do. This is Eric Widera.

Illness 125

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 125

Physician's Weekly

JUNE 23, 2025

As a family physician, my days are filled with caring for individuals and families across the lifespan and in multiple healthcare settings. I spend other days meeting with legislators or advocacy groups to discuss policy and how it may impact patients’ health, as well as physicians’ ability to care for them.

Community 80

Community Vaccination Individual Illness 80

Mesa Family Physician

MAY 8, 2025

These visits help catch illnesses before they become more serious, reduce healthcare costs in the long term, and improve overall quality of life. A diagnostic colonoscopy is done when a patient has symptoms like rectal bleeding or abnormal test results. These professionals help ensure continuity of care as your needs change over time.

Preventive Care 100

Preventive Care Preventative Care Wellness Visit Routine Screenings 100

GeriPal

AUGUST 29, 2024

Summary Transcript CME Summary Serious illness communication is hard. During the podcast, we reference a newly released second-edition book that our guests published titled “ Navigating Communication with Seriously Ill Patients: Balancing Honesty with Empathy and Hope.” Eric 01:42 So we’ ve got an exciting topic today.

Illness 132

Illness IT Family Families 132

GeriPal

JANUARY 25, 2024

Summary Transcript Summary In a JAMA 2020 systematic review of palliative care for non-cancer serious illness, Kieran Quinn found many positives, as we discussed on our podcast and in our editorial. He also found gaps, including very few studies of patients with lung disease, and little impact of trials on quality of life.

Patient-Centered 122

Patient-Centered Illness IT Patients 122

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary You know when you walk out of a patient’s room and have that sense, “This isn’t going to go well.” The patient is sick and getting sicker, and refuses to let you talk with family or other members of her inner circle. Should you stop at “no?” Anne Kelly: Hi there. Nice to be here. Lynn: I do.

Family 97

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 97

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. But the patient would say, well, but it still hurts, though.

Illness 133

Illness Patient-Centered Patients IT 133

GeriPal

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Still, we havent talked about integrating palliative care into psychiatry or in the care of those with severe mental illness. What does it look like to take a palliative approach to severe mental illness? Is “terminal” mental illness a thing? Eric 01:34 Oh, I love that. Dani 01:36 More to talk about there.

Illness 101

Illness Mental Health IT Patient-Centered 101

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

First, a clinician’s thoughts must be encoded into words, then transmitted often via sounds, and finally decoded back to thoughts by a patient or family member. Patient Values: Three Important Questions-Tell me more? Simple, right? Not so much, as each one of these steps is fraught with miscommunication. What else?

Family 144

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 144

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary Think about the last time a patient yelled at you in anger. The last time this happened to me I immediately went on the defensive despite years of training in serious illness communication skills. Ask why: What is underneath the anger for this particular patient? Taking care of the hateful patient.

Patients 109

Patients IT Family Families 109

GeriPal

JULY 11, 2024

It’s a jampacked 50 minutes, filled with pearls on taking care of patients with liver disease. Kirsten 04:16 So, in emergency medicine, obviously, we are interacting and caring for these both exciting and interesting, but also very complex and humbling patients to care for in the ED setting. What’s the connection and why?

Patient-Centered 109

Patient-Centered IT Patients Clinic 109

GeriPal

MAY 4, 2023

But when I have, I find that they’re often some of the hardest patients to care for. I just had this experience where in the space I was in, very few people believed that this was even a legit thing to study and certainly that it would make a difference for the patients we cared for. Young adulthood is super hard.

Family 83

Family Families IT Illness 83

GeriPal

JUNE 30, 2022

You have a patient with dementia severe enough that she cannot recognize relatives. Should she have an operation, and risk the pain, potential complications, and attendant delirium associated with the operation? Samir: For me, it really came out of an interest in improving the care of patients who undergo surgery. AlexSmithMD.

Patient-Centered 101

Patient-Centered Complication Patients IT 101

GeriPal

MARCH 9, 2023

Early data on efficacy in patients with anxiety and demoralization are promising. Two of our guests today, Stacy Fischer and Brian Anderson, are involved in large multicenter trials of psychedelics for patients with advanced cancer (Fischer) or life-limiting illness (Anderson). Research is exploding. You’ve been trained?

Patient-Centered 91

Patient-Centered Community IT Medical 91

GeriPal

AUGUST 11, 2022

We talk with Susan about how far the field has come, from early days when the attending physician would decide which patients were DNR and place a black “no code” dot in the chart. – Serious Illness Conversation Guide podcast. There was no conversation with the patient or the family about this. AlexSmithMD .

Illness 109

Illness IT Family Families 109

GeriPal

JULY 21, 2022

Often the work of the certified driving rehab specialist is to assess the older drivers goals, assess prognosis for driving, and help the family navigate discussions around driving cessation (hmmm…sounds like an approach to family meetings). Love to talk about also in the serious illness population. Eric: Yeah.

Family 102

Family Families IT Diagnosis 102

GeriPal

JULY 28, 2022

GeriPal post on “fast food” style palliative care in chronic critical illness. This is my early father’s day gift from the family. But at that time I was struck by how in that field, there wasn’t a focus or really interest in symptom management and support for patients and their families. Transcript.

Illness 110

Illness Hospital Patient-Centered Patients 110

GeriPal

MAY 22, 2025

Jenny Chen is a palliative care fellow at Yale who regularly sings for her seriously ill patients. Jenny reached out to us because she plays music regularly for her patients, and she said, you should do a podcast about music. And I performed for many palliative patients, and that’s when I started to understand.

IT 96

IT Patient-Centered Patients Board-Certified 96

GeriPal

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Within hours of recording this podcast, I joined a family meeting of an older patient who had multiple medical problems including cancer, and a slow but inexorable decline in function, weight, and cognition. The patient’s capacity to make decisions was marginal, and his sons were shouldering much of the responsibility.

Hospital 132

Hospital Patient-Centered Patients IT 132

GeriPal

MARCH 24, 2022

Then listen to these prior podcasts with Sean Morrison and Rebecca Sudore about this issue, and we recently discussed differences between Advance Care Planning and Serious Illness Communication with Juliet Jacobsen and Rachelle Bernacki. . And especially for those who may have nontraditional families. This is Eric Widera.

Illness 72

Illness IT Healthcare Patient-Centered 72

GeriPal

JUNE 15, 2023

” And Bing responded, I should ask about how AI can help identify patients who need palliative care and reduce hospitalizations, what are the benefits and challenges of using AI in decision-making, communication, palliative care, and how could AI support the quality of life and dignity of patients for those who are receiving palliative care?

IT 99

IT Patient-Centered Patients Healthcare 99

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

The illness narratives suffering, healing, and the human condition. I think even the word patient, patient, I think, comes from the word suffer, the one who suffers. I’ve had a patient in one room, they have stage four breast cancer. Hospital Chaplains, Spirituality, and Pain Management: A Qualitative Study.

IT 137

IT Family Families Physicals 137

GeriPal

OCTOBER 12, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary For surgeons and patients, deciding if and when to operate can be challenging. Often, the way surgeons communicate about these decisions doesn’t make things any easier for themselves or their patients. We hope you enjoy this episode. I did it before and this guy, he was 85, but he was climbing Mount Everest.”

IT 128

IT Family Families Patient-Centered 128

GeriPal

JUNE 9, 2022

We can’t possibly meet the needs of all people with newly diagnosed serious illness. She’s also a member of the PAIR Center, which stands for Palliative Advanced Illness Research Center. But definitely always had the bug to be the one to jump into the family meetings in the ICU, lead them. What does “early” really mean?

Consulting 99

Consulting Patient-Centered Diagnosis Referral 99

GeriPal

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Caveat as well that RCTs should not be placed on pedestal as the only answer- often patients enrolled in RCTs do not represent real world patients – observational studies do. For a trial to have value, it should not exclude patients over age 80, or those with dementia, or patients residing in nursing homes.

Patient-Centered 126

Patient-Centered IT Patients Illness 126

GeriPal

MAY 15, 2025

Prior podcasts on the ethics of nudging , and a different trial conducted by Kate and Scott in which the default for hospitalized seriously ill patients was to receive a palliative care consult. Participants were critically ill and intubated. P AI R stands for Palliative and Advanced Illness Research Center. Where was it?

Patient-Centered 116

Patient-Centered Hospital IT Illness 116

GeriPal

AUGUST 25, 2022

Second, Hospice was originally designed for patients with advanced cancer, but the fastest growing admitting diagnosis is dementia. Krista Harrison found , to her surprise, that caregivers of people with dementia who died rated hospice as well as similar patients without dementia who died on hospice. AlexSmithMD. Transcript.

Family 106

Family Families IT Patients 106