GeriPal

DECEMBER 2, 2022

She directs UCSF MERI’s patient, family, and clinician support with classes and consultation on resiliency, well-being, and grief. Rather they’re Ill, maybe they’re aging unsuccessfully, but never really resilient. Alex: First three words would be, family and history and diversity. Anne: Is there a movement?

Community 101

Community IT Individual Patient-Centered 101

Mere Mortal MD

MAY 22, 2025

People are not usually fond of hospitals, especially if they happen to be the patient. A hospital is a place for sick people, a place where death lurks around the corner, where a blood sucking phlebotomist pokes around your veins after strapping a blue rubber band tightly around your upper arm. Thanks for reading Mere Mortal MD!

Hospital 221

Hospital Patients Nurse Practitioner IT 221

GeriPal

JANUARY 18, 2024

Eric: And Alex, we’re going to be talking about substance use disorder and serious illness and aging, with three amazing experts. Eric: So, before we jump into the topic of substance use disorder in aging and serious illness, I think someone has a song request. Transcript Eric: Welcome to the GeriPal podcast. This is Eric Widera.

Illness 136

Illness Patient-Centered Screening Clinic 136

GeriPal

APRIL 14, 2022

On today’s podcast we talk with three experts on buprenorphine on why, when, and how to use it in serious illness. Adapting Palliative Care Skills to Provide Substance Use Disorder Treatment to Patients With Serious Illness . Katie, before we jump into the topic of buprenorphine in serious illness, what’s the song request?

Illness 102

Illness Patient-Centered IT Nurse Practitioner 102

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

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

And in response, the family or patient looked at you like you were from another planet? Coming off as rote and scripted during a serious illness conversation can have a similar off-putting impact on patients and families. Links: – Uncanny Valley post on Josh’s fantastic substack Notes from a Family Meeting.

Illness 101

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 101

Noreta Family Medicine

APRIL 17, 2024

What is the meaning of Family Medicine? As the name suggests, a family physician can take care of your entire family – from the day of your birth (even before!) I love family medicine because as family physicians, we can be trained to provide care for patients in many different settings. What is primary care?

Primary Care 52

Primary Care Board-Certified GP Family Medicine 52

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

The patient is sick and getting sicker, and refuses to let you talk with family or other members of her inner circle. We owe it to the patient to explore the reasons behind the “no,” commonly not wanting to be a burden to their family. Should you stop at “no?” We will have to reach out to your daughter then to help with decisions.

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. So cachexia, I would put it involuntary weight loss is the number one way to diagnose it.

Illness 133

Illness Patient-Centered Patients IT 133

Mere Mortal MD

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Throw in a healthy dose of dysfunctional coping mechanisms fueled by the family systems we grew up in, and you end up with young adults with a shaky sense of self-worth combined with a strong desire to be well-liked. Why do I want to help my family financially? I kept diving deeper. Why do I want to make happy memories with Erinna?

Family 130

Family Families Diagnose Illness 130

GeriPal

JULY 28, 2022

GeriPal post on “fast food” style palliative care in chronic critical illness. 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. This is my early father’s day gift from the family. Transcript. This is Eric Widera.

Illness 110

Illness Hospital Patient-Centered Patients 110

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. “Do you guys do this?”

Family 102

Family Families IT Diagnosis 102

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

As she said, when you think about the hardest patients you’ve cared for, in nearly all cases there was some aspect of psychological illness involved. Today we talk with two psychologists who are deeply invested in addressing psychological aspects of care for people living with serious illness. That rings true to me. Eric: Yeah.

Mental Health 122

Mental Health Patient-Centered Illness Screening 122

GeriPal

JUNE 9, 2022

Palliative care, in contrast, saw explosive growth in US hospitals. 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. When should people get palliative care?

Consulting 99

Consulting Patient-Centered Diagnosis Referral 99

GeriPal

APRIL 4, 2024

She was resuscitated by EMS, but did not regain higher brain function, and was eventually diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. The hospital refused without a court order, and the case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court. What words to use? Is the POLST useful? Under what circumstances?

Family 112

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 112

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. And so when you have that, that’s so good for the family. That’s so good for us.

IT 102

IT Family Families Clinic 102

GeriPal

MAY 9, 2024

all of whom focus their efforts on educating the general public about living and dying with a serious illness. Alex: And Sammy Winemaker, who’s a palliative care physician and Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Family Medicine, Division of Palliative Care. Sammy: Thank you so much.

Education 127

Education IT Illness Healthcare 127

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. In fact, as Lauren Hunt found , the average likelihood that a person will be disenrolled from one hospice vs. another is two.

Family 106

Family Families IT Patients 106

GeriPal

JANUARY 11, 2024

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. A planned expansion of MAID to include people with mental illness was placed on hold until March 2024. But that was separate from MAID.

Illness 144

Illness IT Medical Provider 144

GeriPal

JANUARY 30, 2025

In one corner, weighing in at decades of experience, well known for heavy hits of bedside assessments, strong patient-family relationships, and a knockout punch of interdisciplinary collaboration, we have in-person palliative care consults. Summary Transcript CME Summary It is a battle royale on this weeks GeriPal podcast. But watch out!

Telehealth 105

Telehealth Patient-Centered IT Patients 105

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

This week, we talk about the other major palliative care trial of default palliative care consults for hospitalized older adults with COPD, kidney disease, or dementia, published in the same issue of JAMA. And PAIR stands for the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research Center. Scott, welcome back to GeriPal. I just go for the gusto.

Consulting 120

Consulting Hospital Patient-Centered IT 120

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

PEMBlog

MARCH 27, 2024

Consider it a supplement to what you remember from Biochemistry and the instructions on the family’s laminated care plan sheet. Her name is Emily Groopman, and she’s a current resident at Children’s National Hospital. So, importantly, you may not have a positive family history. Inborn Errors of Metabolism.

Consulting 59

Consulting Individual Family Families 59

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Fayron: I think I was interested in family caregiving early on because I had it in my family, but it wasn’t until my postdoc days when I was writing my application that I needed to narrow it down. Those are the things that Black family caregivers that I’ve been working with go through. Fayron: Yeah.

Community 128

Community Family Families IT 128

GeriPal

MARCH 24, 2023

2021 Association of Hospice Profit Status With Family Caregivers’ Reported Care Experiences. I’m very proud of the work that we do every day and we take care of patients and families no matter where they live or who they are to help them meet their end of life goals. How do we make this work for patients and families?

IT 113

IT Provider Patients Family 113

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

The last time this happened to me I immediately went on the defensive despite years of training in serious illness communication skills. What feelings do we have toward the patient and toward their families? In a hospital in the morning, six people wake him up, they got a blood draw, they got everything else. How did you react?

Patients 109

Patients IT Family Families 109

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. It also feels like, I also grew up in med school in a three hospital system. We find the same thing when you actually measure at the level of the hospital.

Patient-Centered 111

Patient-Centered Patients IT Healthcare 111

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. They may have few family members, live alone.

IT 99

IT Community Patient-Centered Medical 99

GeriPal

JULY 3, 2025

We’ve invited two palliative care doctors to talk about survivorship with us: Laura Petrillo , a physician-researcher at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Laura Shoemaker , an outpatient palliative care doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. I was there and at University Hospitals, had a great visit. Great to see you guys.

Patient-Centered 52

Patient-Centered Illness Clinic IT 52

GeriPal

AUGUST 24, 2023

Harvey is probably best known for his work in developing dignity therapy, a psychological intervention designed specifically to address many of the psychological, existential, and spiritual challenges that patients and their families face as death approaches. So tiny, tiny, in a hospital bed. So there are three primary domains.

Patient-Centered 98

Patient-Centered Patients IT Illness 98

GeriPal

AUGUST 8, 2024

We cover a wide range on this topic, weaving in our own stories of loss with Thomas’s experiences, stories, and poems from years of caring for families after their loved one’s have died. And so the, just means that we want to minimalize any bother that attends the death in the family. Here it’s done as a form of disappearance.

IT 124

IT Family Families Relationship 124

GeriPal

OCTOBER 3, 2024

I wonder if you could say a little bit more about the meta Institute in particular and what it is that clinicians today can do to learn, to be more present and learn about the need to be thoughtful and compassionate in the care that they provide people with serious illness. Frank 08:43 Well, briefly. Where can they go? That was it.

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

But from our clinical work, many of us are familiar with people with dementia who experience sudden shocks to their health, think hip fracture, think hospitalization for pneumonia. And then when you see clinically patients coming into hospital, they’ll have, you know, they’ll be admitted for aspiration pneumonia.

Illness 93

Illness Hospital IT Patient-Centered 93

GeriPal

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Someone who’s healthy in their 60s and just got diagnosed with diabetes, yeah, they might benefit, if they have a very long life expectancy, to prevent that decline in kidney function. So we wanted to create a model that’s going to reflect that sort of risk and what it also means for their families and financial decisions.

IT 95

IT Clinic Screening Patients 95

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Alex 00:34 We are delighted to welcome back Jennifer Tem e l, who is a thoracic oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. So, for example, everyone who was diagnosed with an advanced or metastatic lung cancer had a prognosis on the order of months. Alex This is Alex Smith Eric A nd Alex, who do we have with us today?

Patient-Centered 119

Patient-Centered IT Patients Hospital 119

GeriPal

JUNE 6, 2024

Alex 00:06 We are delighted to welcome back Areej El-Jawahri, who’s an oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who specializes in blood cancers. 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.

Illness 130

Illness IT Physicals Patients 130