… use of the first-person plural … One of our articles in Journal Club this week is Kinsman et. al.’s “We’ll Do this Together”: The Role of the First Person Plural in Fostering Partnership in Patient-physician Relationships. (J Gen Intern Med 25(3):186-93) (NLM link) Tulsky comments in PC-FACS … “This well designed mixed-methods study demonstrates […]
patient – physician communication … Read More »
… about the mystery of life … “I think fear is a very big element in what we do–our living in a global reality probably elicits a lot of free-floating anxiety. We’re the first humans to have to do that. You try to find something to fix that anxiety on, and take control over whatever
fear & control & the roots of our discomfort … Read More »
Frank Ostaseski’s Five Precepts of Service lend a strong foundation to the work of accompaniment … The Fifth Precept: Cultivate Don’t-Know Mind. This describes a mind that’s open and receptive. A mind that’s not limited by agendas, roles and expectations. The great Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi, was fond of saying, “In the beginner’s mind there
cultivate ‘don’t know’ mind … Read More »
Then why do we impose this on our parents … and our patients? The Safety Dance discusses (many excellent comments).
do we live to be safe … ? Read More »
… a program that brings medical students to the bedsides of those dying alone.
being attentive to the dying … Read More »
Spring and Fall:To a young child Margaret, are you grieving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leaves, like the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! as the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By & by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; And
margaret are you grieving? Read More »
Frank Ostaseski’s Five Precepts of Service lend a strong foundation to the work of accompaniment … The Fourth Precept: Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things. We often think of rest as something that will come when everything else is complete, like when we go on a holiday or when our work
find a place of rest … in the middle of things Read More »
… a wonderful glimpse into a community that treasures accompanying its own at the end-of-life. on the “issue” of nutrition-hydration … “And dying people, you can tell when they don’t want to eat or drink. That’s a natural thing.” (see my food & water for the journey at life’s end) “This is what our culture,
dying in community … Read More »
… a wide-ranging memoir of the author’s father’s encounter with the modern medical system. “The pacemaker bought my parents two years of limbo, two of purgatory and two of hell…”
what broke my father’s heart … Read More »
… please visit the recently added summary of delirium at end-of-life on the hospice pall med page.
delirium at end-of-life … Read More »
