Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! This week, we tackled two common myths about palliative care: That it’s only for people who are terminally ill, and That patients have to be “ready” before they can receive it. Both are harmful misconceptions that delay people from getting the support they deserve. The third myth I didn’t have time to explore this week is all about acceptance. Too often, when someone says a patient “isn’t ready for palliative...
19 days ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! This week's video highlighted a patient of mine who wanted to meet with palliative care because they were feeling "pretty good." We were able to dig into important topics because their illness was stable - the kind of conversation that's almost impossible to have in the middle of a crisis. Now I want to dig even deeper into the benefits of routine check-ins with palliative care during the good times. There's a...
26 days ago • 2 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! I'm a casual Taylor Swift fan at best. But like the rest of the world I still heard about her engagement announcement this week. And that reminded me of a very common conversation I have in the hospital - surrogate decision making. Surrogate decision making refers to making medical decisions for another person - typically when that person has lost the capacity to make decisions for themselves either...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! Just one video this week, but it's one that touches on a question that every single one of my patients has been asked at some point: "If your heart stops, do you want us to resuscitate you?" When you're living with a serious illness, this question is not so straight forward. What may seem like an obvious choice ("yes, of course I want you to try!") comes with some significant trade-offs to consider that can...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! Y'all, it has been a week. There has been so much palliative-related content in the news lately (both mainstream and academic) that I can barely keep up. Luckily, that means lots of new videos to share this week. And I'll be honest, life has been super busy lately. Between moving, settling into the new house, and juggling summer camp schedules for the kids, it's been a challenge to publish even one video per...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! Honestly I did not think I was going to have back-to-back weeks talking about assisted dying, but then I saw this article on the New York Times. But this week's video isn't really about assisted dying. It's about the culture of healthcare to jump to aggressive life-prolonging interventions by default - no matter the benefit, no matter the circumstances. It's about our system's lack of checkpoints during an...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! Y'all, it's been a week. We've been caught up in the whirlwind of moving, and we are still crawling out from under a mountain of boxes and cling wrap. Needless to say, with everything going on in life it's been challenging to stay regular with the content creation. But I couldn't leave you hanging. I snuck a new video in right under the wire last night! And though it may be last minute, it is a very important...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! This week I published a satirical skit to highlight the communication gap that so often exists between clinicians and families – especially when the topic is the prognosis of a serious illness. Communication is an interesting thing. It’s easy to forget that our communication preferences are just that – preferences. The way we best deliver and receive information is highly individualized, and those differences...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Goals of Share The weekly recap from How To Train Your Doctor Happy Sunday, Reader! When things get medically complicated, having the right kind of help can go a long way. That’s what this week’s videos are about. First up: The Medical Emergency FolderYou’ve got one, right?It’s the folder you grab in a crisis—so EMTs, ER staff, or nursing facility staff know your wishes and medical treatment preferences.I walk through the 3 documents to keep inside: A Healthcare Power of Attorney A POLST /...
3 months ago • 1 min read