Facilitating spiritual and cultural rituals as desired by patients and families is an important component of holistic palliative care. The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care makes this clear…
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Reflective writing is an important part of my spiritual practice and my wellbeing as a healthcare professional. I’m grateful for recent collaborations with The Human Touch, a literary journal for…
I had visited Mr. Williams several times over the last few months. In his early 60’s he had been diagnosed with lung cancer after years of tobacco use combined with…
No One wants to die. This is usually followed by some “inspiring” pabulum; such as the Steve Job quote from his 2003 Stanford graduation address: “Death is very likely the single…
Understanding what you mean by “provide comfort care” can be very challenging. We use the term as shorthand within medicine, but it is confusing to the “real” world of our…
It is quite a coincidence that I am teaching an ethics module this week on Truth-telling and Confidentiality for the Certificate and Master’s program for Clinical Specialists in Palliative Care. …
I was part of a team of palliative care providers that developed and later worked in the Safe Harbor Palliative Care Unit at the VA Medical Center in Birmingham Alabama. …
Recently, we have been caring for a homeless veteran. We call him Mr. J; we have been trying to help him which, at times, seems impossible. Over time we have…
There is a fever in healthcare. “We are Burning UP! About Burning Out!” Many of us feel burned out at times. Then we read how our colleagues are reporting they…