Social stigma makes the opioid crisis hard to confront (7min) There are many reasons why the opioid crisis is so hard to confront. One of them is social stigma. It often extends beyond users themselves, to their families. People see addiction as a moral weakness, and by extension, the moral weakness of their families.
When drinking ruins your liver - should you qualify for a transplant? When patients develop alcohol liver disease, they are often forced to wait 6 months to prove they can abstain from alcohol before they will be considered for a transplant. Is that a fair amount of time? Is that a fair practice at all?
Withholding surgery: How gaps in policy fail people who inject drugs A recent New York Times article described a harrowing situation faced by some people who inject drugs and develop endocarditis, a life-threatening infection caused by bacteria that enter the bloodstream and settle in the heart. The article described doctors in Tennessee deciding whether to perform repeat costly heart surgeries on patients who were re-infected with endocarditis as a result of ongoing illicit drug use—and at times declining to operate. There are policy failures that are to blame, too, for how and why resources are allocated this way. This looks at those failures and how our bias influences both the policies and how they are applied.
Injecting Drugs can ruin a heart - how many second chances should a user get? A life-threatening heart infection afflicts a growing number of people who inject opioids or meth. Costly surgery can fix it, but the addiction often goes unaddressed.
The Fix (whole episode - 43min) This episode we take a sober look at the throbbing, aching, craving desire states that return people (again and again) to the object of their addiction … and the pills that just might set them free.
What happens when a patient says, "Doc, help me die." Mercy, compassion - does this fade at the end of life? Does ending a life conflict with our values as physicians? Read for one physician's perspective.
Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness Michelle Sullivan talks about her experiences of being different and not fitting in and how that forced her to accept her vulnerability and view getting help as a strength. She believes in order to truly help and support one another we have to look pass the surface, let go of judgement and adopt a new way of giving.
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination J.K. Rowling delivers Harvard's commencement speech, emphasizing the importance of perspective, empathy, and humility in addressing two key topics: failure and imagination.
Transparency, Compassion, and Truth in Medical Errors Leilani Schweitzer's son died by fault of medical error - she talks of the importance of transparency, truth, and compassion in medicine.
Everything Doesn't Happen for a Reason An essay on the importance of grieving and avoidance of "platitudes cloaked as sophistication" from "The Adversity Within" - a blog dedicated to examining the topic of resilience in the face of adversity
Compassion Fatigue TED Talk Goleman Daniel Goleman, psychologist and award-winning author of Emotional Intelligence and other books on EI, challenges traditional measures of intelligence as a predictor of life success.
Compassion Fatigue --Defining a nebulous entity Charles Figley describes compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. This article highlights this phenomenon within the military and warning signs.
Understanding and Preventing Compassion Fatigue: A Handout for Professionals A guide to recognizing compassion fatigue, methods for prevention, and methods for recovery.
What happens when a patient says, "Doc, help me die." Mercy, compassion - does this fade at the end of life? Does ending a life conflict with our values as physicians? Read for one physician's perspective.
Doctors, Revolt! The real work is compassion, empathy, and listening....
Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness Michelle Sullivan talks about her experiences of being different and not fitting in and how that forced her to accept her vulnerability and view getting help as a strength. She believes in order to truly help and support one another we have to look pass the surface, let go of judgement and adopt a new way of giving.
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination J.K. Rowling delivers Harvard's commencement speech, emphasizing the importance of perspective, empathy, and humility in addressing two key topics: failure and imagination.
Everything Doesn't Happen for a Reason An essay on the importance of grieving and avoidance of "platitudes cloaked as sophistication" from "The Adversity Within" - a blog dedicated to examining the topic of resilience in the face of adversity
Compassion Fatigue --Defining a nebulous entity Charles Figley describes compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. This article highlights this phenomenon within the military and warning signs.