GeriPal

APRIL 4, 2024

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. Other states set lower bars, including oral assignment of surrogate decision-makers. What words to use? Is the POLST useful?

Family 112

Family Families Patient-Centered IT 112

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.

IT 83

IT Family Families Illness 83

GeriPal

APRIL 6, 2023

A friend of GeriPal, and prior guest, Guy Micco commented today that we need an RCT for chaplaincy is like the idea that the humanities need to justify their value in medical training: “It’s like being told to measure the taste of orange juice with a ruler.” Really important person, who later in his life got very interested in healthcare.

IT 99

IT Patient-Centered Family Families 99

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. Eric: I also wonder, thinking about our own medical school training, at least mine, is that there wasn’t a lot of normalizing emotions in our med school. How did you react? This is Eric Widera.

Patients 109

Patients IT Family Families 109