GeriPal

JUNE 12, 2025

Anish 00:24 Thanks so much for having me. Alex 00:26 And we’re delighted to welcome Emily Martin, who is a palliative care doc at UCLA. Emily, welcome to GeriPal. Emily 00:32 It’s good to be here. Alex 00:33 And delighted to welcome Evie K a lmar, who’s a geriatrician and palliative care doc at UCSF. Evie, welcome to GeriPal.

Patient-Centered 102

Patient-Centered Referral Patients IT 102

GeriPal

DECEMBER 14, 2023

More recently Sharon Kaufman ‘s book And a Time to Die described the ways in which physicians, nurses, hospital systems, and payment mechanisms influenced the hour and manner of patient’s deaths. This field is not new. Today Liz Dzeng discusses her journey towards studying this issue in detail. We can’t stop ourselves.

Hospital 125

Hospital IT Patient-Centered Patients 125

Plum Health

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Have you ever found yourself in need of medical attention but overwhelmed by the myriad of clinics and healthcare options out there? Navigating the healthcare system can be daunting, especially when you're unwell or caring for someone who is. It's a common challenge many people face.

Clinic 52

Clinic Primary Care Doctor Primary Care Chronic Condition 52

Doctor On Demand

APRIL 28, 2025

In fact, most sore throat symptoms resolve in three days for 60-70% of patients, according to March 2025 UpToDate, an evidence-based clinical decision support system used by healthcare professionals. Most sore throats are common cases, so it can be hard to know when to seek urgent care or when to just rest at home.

ER 52

ER Telehealth Primary Care Doctor Appointment 52

GeriPal

JANUARY 25, 2024

You can also listen to an audio interview with Alex and JAMA Deputy Editor Preeti Malani about this study and the other RCT of default palliative care for hospitalized older adults with noncancer serious illness published in the same issue. Stay tuned for a GeriPal podcast with the authors of the other study next week. Is it you Lyndsay?

Patient-Centered 122

Patient-Centered IT Illness Patients 122

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Going into patient’s homes was eye opening. There were trip hazards, loose carpets, some people were hoarders. And yet, after assisting the older adult to their feet, the EMS providers would leave. Their job was done. It’s not surprising that the number of repeat calls for falls is alarmingly high. Alex: I think this is a first.

Community 114

Community Transportation IT PCP 114

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

And the big things that we think about as far as complications, so there, obviously the thing that comes to everybody’s mind is like fractures. Sarah 00:37 Ooh, how about Free Fall in’? Alex 00:41 Free Fall in’? Alex 00:45 We did this, like one of our first podcasts, I r emember, and second verse, I kind of went for it. Alex 04:10 Wow.

IT 124

IT Screening Patient-Centered Community 124

GeriPal

MAY 22, 2025

When we started doing more music stuff for our patients in the hospital, a lot of people started to think, hmm, what would I want to listen to? This is not highly scripted orchestral music, people, its Jazz. -S And I was fortunate to record an episode of my medical mixtape with Tyler at the w hich meeting were we at, Tyler ? Tyler 01:12 AHPM.

IT 96

IT Patient-Centered Patients Board-Certified 96

GeriPal

JULY 21, 2022

Because I don’t think we think about that so much in palliative care, but we do in geriatrics. But I believe before we start, somebody has a song request for Alex. Is it you, Emmy? Emmy: It is. Eric: What’s the song? Emmy: I just forgot the name of the song… [laughter]. Alex: Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen? I like that song.

IT 102

IT Family Families Diagnosis 102

GeriPal

OCTOBER 20, 2022

It’s Lona Mody who is a translational infectious disease researcher at the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. There’s the complications associated with immune senescence, comorbidities, atypical clinical presentations. How to make your voice heard and get involved. This is Eric Widera.

Complication 52

Complication Patient-Centered IT Patients 52

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Imagine her hearing for the first time that you’re sick, that you’re hospitalized, that you’re in the ICU, and that you can’t make your own decisions? Today we talk with Anne Rohlfing, Lynn Flint, and Anne Kelly, authors of a JGIM article on the reasons we shouldn’t stop at “no.” That’s a huge amount of news all at once. This is Eric Widera.

Families 97

Families Family Patient-Centered IT 97

GeriPal

AUGUST 29, 2024

Gordon 02:12 So I think it speaks to one of the big lessons we’ve learned, which is that docs and other health professionals often sort of give way too much information and spend a lot of time talking. That’s a hard enough task, given that most of us have never had any communication skills training. Gordon 02:02 I do. Elise 03:53 Nice.

IT 132

IT Illness Family Families 132

GeriPal

JULY 11, 2024

Summary Transcript Summary In May we did a podcast on KidneyPal (the integration of palliative care in renal disease) , which made us think, hmmm… one organ right next door is the liver. Maybe we should do a podcast on LiverPal? (or or should we call it HepatoPal?) ABIM MOC credit will be offered to subscribers in November, 2024. Excited to be here.

Patient-Centered 109

Patient-Centered IT Patients Clinic 109

GeriPal

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Today we talk with Sarguni Singh, hospitalist-researcher at the University of Colorado, Ann Henshaw, Occupational Therapist who teaches at George Washington and works clinically at Georgetown, and Tamra Keeney, Physical Therapist-researcher at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Tamra, welcome to the GeriPal podcast. Here we go.

Patient-Centered 132

Patient-Centered Hospital Patients IT 132

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary The comprehensive geriatric assessment is one of the cornerstones of geriatrics. But does the geriatric assessment do anything? Does it improve outcomes that patients, caregivers, and clinicians care about? We talk about: What is a practical geriatric assessment and how can busy oncologists actually do one? Thank you.

Patient-Centered 129

Patient-Centered IT Patients Clinic 129

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. Many were community hospitals. The intervention was a negative study for the primary outcome, hospital length of stay. What is sludge?

Patient-Centered 116

Patient-Centered Hospital IT Illness 116

GeriPal

JUNE 30, 2022

Should she have an operation, and risk the pain, potential complications, and attendant delirium associated with the operation? Joel: The Brigham and Women’s Hospital likes me to say that too. Alex: And the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. And she was rushed to the hospital. She falls and breaks her hip.

Patient-Centered 101

Patient-Centered Complication Patients IT 101

GeriPal

JUNE 15, 2023

Hallucinations, or when the AI lies or b *s, then denies it When the AI approaches sentience, is it ethical to unplug it? I’m sure this is a subject we will return to, given the rapid progress on AI. Which I thought were great questions. Maybe we could jump into that. Eric: It said, “How about Sparky?” What is artificial intelligence?

IT 99

IT Patient-Centered Patients Healthcare 99

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

The songs about how saving lives is actually a pretty complicated business. And which journal again? Ken Covinsky: JAMA Network Open. Eric: JAMA Network Open. Kenny Lam: Yeah, yeah. JAMA Network Open. Eric: But before we do, we have a song request. Luckily, it’s not going to go to Ken Covinsky, because he would do a Chicago Cubs song.

Community 97

Community IT Mental Health Medical 97

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Additional link to study with heatmaps of specific locations (hospital, nursing home, home) after initiating dialysis. -@AlexSmithMD ** NOTE: To claim CME credit for this episode, click here ** Transcript Eric 00:11 Welcome to the GeriPal podcast. Eric is skeptical. Let it be (hint hint). Let It Be from the Beatles. Eric 01:46 Great, Alex.

Management 116

Management Patient-Centered Patients IT 116

GeriPal

APRIL 10, 2025

Today we discuss: Why the study was negative for the primary (hospitalization) and all secondary outcome (e.g. Tammie 03:04 Depends on how long they were pre-hospital. So that study was focused on patients admitted to the hospital. I cant do the primary thing Ive been trained to do: ABC, ABC, ABCs. They got feedback.

Patient-Centered 77

Patient-Centered IT Hospital Patients 77

GeriPal

MAY 26, 2022

The basis of their argument is the ethical notion of “reciprocity” – people who are vaccinated have done something to protect the public health, and we owe them something for taking that action. Eric and I attempt to poke holes in their arguments, resulting in a spirited discussion. Evusheld is the latest case in point. . Alex: Love this.

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Vaccination IT Individual Healthcare 87

GeriPal

JULY 28, 2022

Alex: And we are also delighted to welcome Areej El-Jawahri, who is an oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital as well, who specializes in blood cancers. Jennifer’s study is most widely known for the “kicker” – not only did it improve quality of life, palliative care was associated with a couple months longer survival. .

Illness 110

Illness Hospital Patient-Centered Patients 110

GeriPal

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Certainly SOME of those avoided hospitalizations, CPR, and ICU stays were due to documentation of those orders in the POLST. Additional links mentioned in the podcast: Recent JGIM article on POLST in California nursing homes, hospitalization, and nursing home care Karl’s GeriPal post on appropriate use of POLST Enjoy! Welcome, Karl.

Patient-Centered 126

Patient-Centered IT Patients Illness 126

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Alex 00:26 And we’re delayed to welcome Amanda Moment, who is a palliative care social worker at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Acceptance. All of these are ways we cope with stressful situations. Some we may consider healthy or unhealthy coping strategies, but are they really that easy to categorize? Dani 01:51 Yeah.

Illness 125

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 125

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Hospital Chaplains, Spirituality, and Pain Management: A Qualitative Study. Pain Manag Nurs. 2023 Dec 20:S1524-9042(23)00202-3. doi: 10.1016/j.pmn.2023.11.004. 2023.11.004. Epub ahead of print. MOC Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 0.75

IT 137

IT Family Families Physicals 137

GeriPal

MARCH 28, 2024

I’m just stunned even writing that! We’ve come so far as a field. This isn’t to say we’ve “made it” – more to say that we’ve reached a new stage of maturation of the field – in which the evidence we are discussing is frequently high quality randomized trial level data. -@AlexSmithMD Transcript Eric: Welcome to the GeriPal podcast.

Consulting 115

Consulting Patient-Centered IT Patients 115

GeriPal

OCTOBER 12, 2023

And, what if your surgeon openly discussed the expected ‘bad stuff’ of post-operative recovery, instead of rotely reciting a list of possible complications? Often, the way surgeons communicate about these decisions doesn’t make things any easier for themselves or their patients. Justin, welcome to GeriPal. Justin: Hello. Eric: Okay.

IT 128

IT Family Families Patient-Centered 128

GeriPal

JUNE 9, 2022

Palliative care, in contrast, saw explosive growth in US hospitals. Clinical growth of geriatrics programs has lagged academic research, despite the rapid aging of the population. . How do we move from efficacy (works in highly controlled settings) from effectiveness (works in real world settings? What’s the role of implementation science?

Consulting 99

Consulting Patient-Centered Diagnosis Referral 99

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Don: Thanks for having me, Alex: And we’re delighted to welcome back Abby Rosenberg, who’s Chief of Pediatric Palliative Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Director of Palliative Care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Simple, right? Abby: Thank you.

Family 144

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 144

GeriPal

MARCH 24, 2022

All decisions are made in advance, the question that we are debating is how far in advance and what to call it. Completion of advance directives and billing codes for advance care planning as quality metrics. Among other topics. We can work it out! Links to a few couple items mentioned on the podcast: Objectives for Advance Care Planning.

Illness 72

Illness IT Healthcare Patient-Centered 72

GeriPal

AUGUST 11, 2022

Susan led the Project on Death in America’s Faculty Scholars program , used her dual training in internal medicine and psychiatry to shine a light on psychosocial aspects of palliative care, and founded the Department of Psychosocial Care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. . Brian: Thanks so much.

Illness 109

Illness IT Family Families 109

GeriPal

JANUARY 26, 2023

Like a lot of organizations, corporations, professionals, societies, we put out a statement that basically said we stood against violence and other forms of discrimination following his murder. Ramona: I do. It’s called A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke. Eric: And can you describe why you picked that song? Alex: Thank you.

IT 91

IT Patient-Centered Healthcare Patients 91

GeriPal

MAY 4, 2023

We remember bucking the rules, figuring out who you are, hair on fire, feeling invulnerable, trying to figure out who you are – and now those adolescents are stuck in the hospital, with doctors and parents telling them what to do, having their autonomy crushed by the medical institution, realizing they’re not invulnerable. Abby: I do.

IT 83

IT Family Families Illness 83

GeriPal

MARCH 30, 2023

Today we’re going to be talking about narrative writing specifically for healthcare professionals. What motivated you to reach out to the healthcare audience in this way? My entree into healthcare is not in the academic space at all. So unlike academic journals and elsewhere. Liz: That’s right. Lovely song.

IT 95

IT Patient-Centered Patients Healthcare 95

GeriPal

MAY 12, 2022

Raj faced in pain management: access to opioids, corruption, a system that doesn’t see addressing suffering as a priority. Prognosis communication and the subtle ways we may communicate it without intention. Social pain and loneliness. Community-based palliative care networks . Raj’s reflections on the state of palliative care in the US. Transcript.

Community 115

Community IT Relationship Healthcare 115

GeriPal

MAY 25, 2023

Complicated grief? Others cited the call from communities to meet them where they are – be they senior centers, Black-owned businesses, or churches (we have a podcast planned in the fall with Fayron Epps and Karen Moss on the church setting). Did they have PTSD? Depression? Sarah: It is. Eric: Why are you picking this song?

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Community IT Patient-Centered Primary Care 95