Topic: Provider-Patient Relationship
Thriving in Scrubs: Normal People At some point in their education, doctors start talking about “normal people” with a mixture of envy and curiosity. Why do doctors feel this distance from others, and from the parts of their own selves outside of their profession? We talk to Nicole, Sarah and Emma, three OBGYN residents at different stages of training about how they recognize, love and forgive the normal parts of themselves. Spoiler alert: it’s all about the friends who keep us from feeling alone.
We train soldiers for war; let's train them to come home too. (10min) TedTalk -- Before soldiers are sent into combat, they're trained on how to function in an immensely dangerous environment. But they also need training on how to return from the battlefield to civilian life, says psychologist Hector Garcia. Applying the same principles used to prepare soldiers for war, Garcia is helping veterans suffering from PTSD get their lives back.
Helping patients face death, she fought to live A palliative care doctor, faced with extensive metastatic cancer, grappled with what she recommended for patients and what she wanted for herself - which was treatment and cure, at all cost. The murderer in the mirror (2 min read) A surgeon's reflection on the death of his patient.
Clinical care for Obesity and Diet Related illnesses needs more attention to Societal Determinants of Health Article from NEJM website about how despite rates of obesity starting to level off overall, the lowest income and minority populations continue to show a sharp increase. A focus on those factors as contributory needs to be a part of the discussion.
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.
Dying Well Is there a way to talk about death candidly, without fear ... and even with humor? How can we best prepare for it with those we love? This hour, TED speakers explore the beauty of life ... and death. When you click on the link, you can see all the little segments or listen to the whole thing. It's lovely.