Tag: palliative care

Aseemkala Initiative (1 Posts)




Chinnamasta’s Do-Not-Resuscitate Order: Using Classical Indian Dance to Improve Intensive Care Unit Non-Verbal Communication

Published by Aseemkala Initiative

Communication is often noted as the connecting thread between multiple factors in the intensive care unit (ICU) environment, especially when the patient is unable to voice decisions. High-quality communication about goals of care and implementation of interventions versus palliative options has been shown to decrease family depression, improve adherence to MOLST forms by patients who become nonverbal, and decrease clinician burnout. Several models of communication have been implemented, focusing on semantics, environments, impacts on stress, …

Early Palliative Care and End-of-Life Planning as a Primary Preventative Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published by Amira Athanasios, MD

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has drastically increased the number of critically ill and dying patients presenting for hospitalized management of dyspnea, acute respiratory failure and other serious complications. The emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 has created unprecedented demands on all avenues of inpatient hospitalist medicine. One of the many services in high demand includes palliative care, with increased need for complex end of life planning.

Witness

Published by Megha Shankar, MD

This elderly yet jolly gentleman answers our unending questions about his physical health, but it is his question to us that makes me pause. Do I have time for a poem? This busy clinic day, I stop reflecting on why his heart stopped beating and instead what motivates his heart to beat in the first place.   

Treat Me If You Can: DNR versus Comfort Measures Only

Published by Anna Stecher, MD

Caffeine’s effect waned, stomachs rumbled, attention spans faded after rounding on nine acutely ill patients on university wards. It was nearing lunch. I was the senior resident, so I chose the order in which we saw patients. As we arrived at our last patient’s room, I snapped out of my under-caffeinated daze and realized I had made the rookie mistake of leaving our newest and sickest patient for last.

Anna Stecher, MD Anna Stecher, MD (3 Posts)

Peer Reviewer Emeritus

University of Wisconsin

Anna is a fellow in Hospice and Palliative Medicine in Madison, WI. She spends a significant amount of time cuddling her three geriatric rat terriers while reading books or watching the next big TV drama.