The Lens of Genetic Disease This is a poignant blog written by a mom with a daughter diagnosed with Batten disease. The incredible part is that her daughter and another of the girls mentioned in the blog were treated with a rapid gene- therapy and may be cured of their disease. This is a reflection on that journey, the hope, and the worry.
Topics: Grief / Perspective
The Problem with Race-Based Medicine (14min) Global scholar, University of Pennsylvania civil rights sociologist, and law professor Dorothy Roberts exposes the myths of race-based medicine.
People Like Us: How Our Identities Shape Health And Educational Success (35min) A Hidden Brain podcast (35 min) looking at how we scan every patient situation - both as a the physician and the patient - looking for safety and connection. Race turns out to be an important factor in how these are established.
I'll Get That Checked Out Soon In busy professional lives, and in an area where burnout is a hot-button item, our lack of self-care can lead to health care practitioners not really practicing what they preach. The consequences can be fatal.
Topics: Burnout / Mindfulness / PerspectiveKeywords: burnout / perspective / self-care
Myths about physical racial differences were used to justify slavery — and are still believed by doctors today.
The Curbsiders: LGBT health Build your knowledge base to improve primary care for LGBT patients! This episode is chock full of clinical pearls and updates for LGBT health from SGIM presenters, Dr. Jenny Siegel (Boston University) and Dr. Megan McNamara (Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC). They define common gender identity terms and provide tips on how to take a sexual history. You’ll develop an approach to the unique clinical concerns of LGBT patients and learn how to phrase medical information in a gender neutral framework. This is a must listen episode for all health care providers!
Topics: LGBT / Sexuality
Letting go What should medicine do when it can't save you? Dr. Atul Gawande examines the way doctors try to approach death and dying - sometimes well, often inadequately.
Sight Unseen (must download to hear) Listen to a family's reaction after learning that their son's death had been documented by a photographer embedded with a medevac team in Afghanistan.
Murderer in the Mirror Surgeon Scott Eggener recalls the devastation of the first time a patient dies on his operating table.
Deceit & I RJ Walker performs this emotion-provoking poem about the large role that deceit undeniably plays in our lives and careers as a tool to save others from pain.
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
Getting Grief Right by Patrick O'Malley Common knowledge is that people go through stages of grief - progressing from one to the next. Not only is this an oversimplification, but providers' assumption that this is how grief "should" be processed may cause our patients harm.
"Still Point": A Mediation on Mothering a Dying Child - Emily Rapp The struggles and emotions experienced parenting a child with Tay-Sachs disease.