During my tenure as a medical humanist at Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center (2002-2005) I was an eyewitness to the complexities of communication between doctors, nurses, patients, and family members.
During my tenure as a medical humanist at Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center (2002-2005) I was an eyewitness to the complexities of communication between doctors, nurses, patients, and family members.
And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from… T.S. Elliot • The Four Quartets
A friend, who has been living with multiple myeloma for the past seven years, forwarded me the link to “Not Just a Death, a System Failure” (link below) which appeared in the February 2 issue of the New York Times. After reading the article I found myself catapulted back in time. As a member of the cancer center staff, albeit a medical humanist and not a healthcare provider, I attended weekly staff meetings.
Reading the Bennington Banner story about our recent SpeakSooner community program “Building Your Team & Navigating The System” I was catapulted back in time. A few years ago we had been invited by a leading academic medical center to introduce what at that time was our new interactive communication tool—Difficult Conversations Toolkit (Video & Workbook)—to oncology faculty and fellows.
A WORD is dead / When it is said, / Some say. I say it just / Begins to live / That day. Emily Dickinson
How often does a word on the page stop you? And, if it does—do you find yourself leaving the page?
“Even though things inside you might be ripping you up…” Steve Williams, a patient featured in our Difficult Conversations video, tells us “…you put on a good face. For many people it’s hard to ask for help…
Who among us has not attended a professional conference and exchanged a slew of business cards with like-minded colleagues promising to be in touch? But how many of us actually follow up?
In my previous blog, Dosing Hope and Reality, I responded to Dr. Gawande’s quest to help patients
Two years ago, I posted a blog, Inviting Doctors to Tell Difficult Truths about this very subject
In my last post, I asked whether a message of constant “positivity” might be silencing for patients who might need
Nicole Haran’s “Do Great” video features cancer survivors declaring their desire to hear “you will do great.”