Tag Archives: advance care planning

Shifting the focus of care from disease to people – heartfelt article about dying in acute hospitals

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This article is going a bit viral on social media. Does it mirror your experiences? It certain does mine, having worked for a long time in consultation services in acute hospitals. There have been a number of comments and letters to the Age supporting the message of the article, written by a senior doctor about the death of his father. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/hospitals-must-shift-focus-of-endoflife-care-from-disease-to-people-20150707-gi6joz

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads

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photo by David Mao itsdavo

This week’s reading list features stories from around the globe.

Telehealth helps to facilitate home-based palliative care in Taiwan, in one of a series of EAPC blogposts about palliative care in SE Asia (Cloud-based platform for palliative care at home)

Tailored care for older patients with cancer in Latin America: an imminent challenge (British Geriatrics Society blog)

“Although it is unrealistic to believe that someday every older adult with cancer will be treated by a geriatric oncologist, we should make every effort to offer geriatric training to all healthcare professionals and to create bridges between geriatrics and other medical specialties.”

Health advocate and heart attack survivor Carolyn Thomas on the physiological and emotional response to the fear of dying during a heart attack. Continue reading →

End-of-life care: no, we don’t all want ‘whatever it takes’ to prolong life

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This article originally appeared in The Conversation

Charles Corke, Deakin University

We all die eventually, of course, but these days it’s very hard for doctors and loved ones to let patients and relatives die without first doing “whatever it takes” to try to keep them alive. That is, unless they’ve left clear instructions to the contrary.

The overwhelming priority for doctors is to save life. In the last few decades, technologies have progressed so far and fast that doctors are able to embark on treatments that until recently did not exist, or were too risky to consider.

The extra years of good health are wonderful. But everything comes at a price. While we and our loved ones can often be kept alive, this may involve burdensome treatment and awful outcomes.

But while the default position of medicine is to prolong life, staying alive isn’t everyone’s number-one priority, as my soon-to-be published survey results reveal. Continue reading →

free smartphone app for GPs providing palliative care

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There’s an app for that! ABC news writes that a new smartphone app can help guide GPs in management of patients approaching the end of life.

It’s free from iTunes and provided to you by the lovely chaps at Flinders University in SA.

We would love to hear from GPs or trainees  – what do you think?

Sonia

National Palliative Care Week 2015 at Alfred Health

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How would you choose to live, if you were diagnosed with a life-threatening illness?

What are the most important things in your life? What can’t you live without?

Pal and Carey - #NPCW15 mascots #dyingtotalk

Pal and Carey – #NPCW15 mascots #dyingtotalk

The theme of National Palliative Care Week (24-30th May) this year is “Dying to talk; talking about dying won’t kill you”. In fact, talking about how you want to live and die can be empowering and bring you closer to those who matter most to you. On the other hand, not talking about it can lead to regret – both for you but also for those you leave behind.

As part of National Palliative Care Week, the Palliative Care Service at Alfred Health hosted a public forum on Monday, discussing the topic: “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”, based on a book by Australian palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware.

Continue reading →

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – weekend reads

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weekendreads

I’d recommend the current issues of New Philospher (#7: Health) and Quarterly Essay (#57: Dear Life) for some palliative care-related reading. If you can’t make it to the book shop here are some online reads:

Truly beautiful words – Before I Go: A Stanford neurosurgeon’s parting wisdom about life and time. (The Washington Post)

EAPC has a new blog series from the patient and carer perspective! (Palliative Stories, EAPC Blog)

The Trouble With Advance Directives. (NY Times)

A doctor discovers an important question patients should be asked. (Washington Post)

When doing everything is way too much. (NY Times) Continue reading →

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads

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Has anyone watched Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal series for Frontline in the US? There’s also a selection of shorter videos at the Frontline YouTube page, like the one above.

Oliver Sacks has written a beautiful piece in the New York Times, about his reaction to being diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. (My Own Life: Oliver Sacks On Learning He Has Terminal Cancer) Continue reading →

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – weekend reads

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Gratuitous holiday snap unrelated to post

Gratuitous holiday snap unrelated to post

I’ll be spending the weekend enjoying the sunshine reminiscing over holiday snaps catching up with tweets from #CancerCongress, #PPCConference, #COSA2014 working on an ethics proposal. If you’re looking for something to do, try this reading list.

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads (featuring zombies)

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Here’s some palliative care and research related links to peruse in the week ahead (most found via Twitter):

ABC News interviews Atul Gawande about “modern medicine’s treatment of dying patients.” Dr Gawande is all over social media and the news, even in Australia (and in Legoland)!

Current and former Chairs of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Mortality Sub-Committee write in The Age about the challenges that not for resuscitation orders can pose for anaesthetists.

The ASCO Post reviews a review article from JAMA Internal Medicine, about end-of-life discussions and advanced care planning. In summary, it’s all good.

In Canada’s Globe & Mail, “End-of-life patients aren’t being heard“.

Geriatrician Louise Aronson writes in The Lancet about ageism in medicine, and ageing as “the human life-cycle’s neglected step-child.”

Presenting at a conference? Improve your presentation with zombie apocalypse principles.

Meanwhile, on October 31st, GeriPal explored the unmet palliative care needs of zombies. And check out the zombie pain scale!

Finally, join the weekly (zombie-free) #hpmglobal tweetchat on Monday (17/11/14 at 11pm AEDT) to discuss an article from BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care about support networks of end-of-life carers. #hpmglobal chat is hosted by Aussie ex-pat Dr Jim Cleary (@jfclearywisc), with participants from several continents. For instruction in how to participate in a tweetchat, see Sonia’s post Twitter 102.

I hope you enjoy these and stay safe from zombies!

 

Elissa