PEMBlog

MAY 1, 2025

Learning Objectives Describe the classic and atypical clinical presentations of Parvovirus B19 infection in pediatric patients, including erythema infectiosum, arthropathy, transient aplastic crisis, and chronic anemia in immunocompromised hosts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. StatPearls , NCBI Bookshelf, Jun.

Complication 83

Complication Patient-Centered Patients Clinic 83

GeriPal

APRIL 27, 2023

The company has expanded its palliative care services through partnerships with hospitals and other managed care providers, according to AccentCare CEO Stephan Rodgers. We deepen ourselves into the fabric of care and we make healthcare work for people who are seriously ill. Attendee 3: Oh. We are not an extra layer of support.

Specialization 93

Specialization Illness Healthcare Patient-Centered 93

GeriPal

DECEMBER 2, 2022

She directs UCSF MERI’s patient, family, and clinician support with classes and consultation on resiliency, well-being, and grief. You wrote about how when it comes to talking about patients with dementia, they’re rarely portrayed as resilient. Alex: First three words would be, family and history and diversity.

Community 101

Community IT Individual Patient-Centered 101

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

StorytellERdoc

MAY 7, 2020

Her fingers entwine the plastic Minnie Mouse bracelet she is wearing, given to her by a patient with leukemia. He signs off the last of information on his seventh patient to his replacement, sharing the important medications, vitals, activities, and care-plan in depth. She doesn't want to be late for her family reunion.

Patient-Centered 100

Patient-Centered Family Families Patients 100

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.

ER 100

ER Illness Physicals Provider 100

GeriPal

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

We are going to tackle this question and so many more about coping on this week’s podcast with Dani Chammas , a recurring GeriPal guest, psychiatrist, and palliative care doc at UCSF, and Amanda Moment , a Palliative Care Social Worker at Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. Coping in the setting of serious illness.

Illness 125

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 125

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 Patients 102

GeriPal

JANUARY 18, 2024

We start off the conversation by talking about whether patients with cancer and cancer pain are really that different, and their paper that was just published on January 11 th in JAMA Oncology showing that substance use disorder is not uncommon in individuals with cancer. Who do we have with us today? Devon, welcome to GeriPal.

Illness 136

Illness Patient-Centered Screening Clinic 136

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. Today Liz Dzeng discusses her journey towards studying this issue in detail. I guess the VA is federal though.

Hospital 125

Hospital IT Patient-Centered Patients 125

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 IT Illness Patients 122

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Have you ever had that moment when talking to a patient, when you realized that the phrase you just uttered, which you’ve uttered a hundred times before, came out rote and scripted? And in response, the family or patient looked at you like you were from another planet? Summary Transcript Summary. Yeah, I’ve been there too.

Illness 101

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 101

GeriPal

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Clinicians “catching” patient life stories. . Our patients aren’t “the 76 year old with heart failure in room 202,” as Heather Coats astutely noted. Our loves, our triumphs, our failures, our work, our families. . Storytelling Helps Hospital Staff Discover The Person Within The Patient. What’s in a story?

Patient-Centered 115

Patient-Centered Illness Healthcare IT 115

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?” That’s a huge amount of news all at once. Lynn: I do.

Family 97

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 97

GeriPal

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary Communicating about a serious illness is hard. Last week’s podcast we talked about the challenge around miscommunication in serious illness. So I first want to just say thank you to Ernesto’s family. This is Eric Widera. Alex: This is Alex Smith. Eric: And Alex, who do we have with us today?

Illness 136

Illness IT Patient-Centered Family 136

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? For more details, please click here. (AP AP Recruit Job No.

Illness 101

Illness Mental Health IT Patient-Centered 101

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.

Mental Health 122

Mental Health Patient-Centered Illness Screening 122

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

Georgetown Pediatrics & Family Medicine

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

“A lot of times when we talk about mental illness or mental health, I think there’s a lot missing from the conversation,” Dr. Joy said. “I It doesn’t always have to be about mental illness.” In 1891, Williams opened Provident Hospital, the first medical facility to have an interracial staff. Their impact continues to grow!

Mental Health 40

Mental Health Patient-Centered Hospital Education 40

GeriPal

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Along the way we address: Is this degree of slowed cognitive decline meaningful to patients or care partners? Eric: So patient narrative storytelling, independent of what we call it, I’d like to turn to both of you and just how you got interested in this as a subject. What about the burdens, risks, and harms? Heather: Sure.

IT 105

IT Patient-Centered Healthcare Illness 105

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

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. But watch out! Travel time can leave this champ vulnerable to fatigue and no-shows.

Telehealth 105

Telehealth Patient-Centered IT Patients 105

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.

Patient-Centered 132

Patient-Centered Hospital Patients IT 132

GeriPal

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Earlier this year palliative care was the correct response to the following clue on the game show Jeopardy: From a Latin word for “to cloak”, it’s the type of care given to seriously ill patients to provide comfort without curing. We had tried to actually select people who didn’t have a serious illness. Marian: Thank you.

Illness 101

Illness Patient-Centered IT Nurse Practitioner 101

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. Participants were critically ill and intubated. What is sludge? What to make of that?

Patient-Centered 116

Patient-Centered Hospital IT Illness 116

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

JANUARY 16, 2025

Summary Transcript CME Summary Many older adults lose decision-making capacity during serious illnesses, and a significant percentage lack family or friends to assist with decisions. And I was asking this patient about if he had filled out an advanced directive. Is the patient in your descriptor?

Patient-Centered 109

Patient-Centered IT Patients Healthcare 109

GeriPal

APRIL 4, 2024

The hospital refused without a court order, and the case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court. The Cruzan ruling led to a flood of interest in Advance Directives, and eventually to the Patient Self Determination Act, which mandates provision of information about advanced directives to all hospitalized patients.

Family 112

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 112

GeriPal

JUNE 9, 2022

Palliative care, in contrast, saw explosive growth in US hospitals. The National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC)and Palliative Care Research Cooperative (PCRC)were founded in part to meet this need. (see We can’t possibly meet the needs of all people with newly diagnosed serious illness. What is a pragmatic trial ?

Consulting 99

Consulting Patient-Centered Diagnosis Referral 99

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. . AlexSmithMD . Transcript.

Illness 109

Illness 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

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Certainly SOME of those avoided hospitalizations, CPR, and ICU stays were due to documentation of those orders in the POLST. 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. This is Eric Widera.

Patient-Centered 126

Patient-Centered IT Patients Illness 126

GeriPal

JUNE 30, 2022

You have a patient with dementia severe enough that she cannot recognize relatives. A huge part of this decision rests on (1) her previously stated wishes, values, and goals (prior to the onset of dementia); and (2) the outcomes of surgery for patients with dementia. Alex: And the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Transcript.

Patient-Centered 101

Patient-Centered Complication Patients IT 101

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. . Where does POLST fit in with this debate? This is Eric Widera. Alex: This is Alex Smith.

Illness 72

Illness IT Healthcare Patient-Centered 72

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. Hsien: Hey, great to be here.

Education 127

Education IT Illness Healthcare 127

GeriPal

JUNE 15, 2023

Alex: And we have Matt DeCamp, who’s joining from the University of Colorado, where he is a primary care internist and bioethicist at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities. My worry though with that is that are we going to be expected to be more productive then, to see more patients? The patient is crying in front of you.

IT 99

IT Patient-Centered Patients Healthcare 99