end-of-life
lborkowski | September 24, 2014Last week, an Institute of Medicine panel released a report that critiques US handling of end-of-life healthcare and suggests improvements. Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life recommends improved communication between patients and providers so that patients can decide what kind of end-of-life care they want, and then receive it. Many people would prefer to die at home, with their care focused on making them comfortable -- not in a hospital undergoing tests and procedures that might prolong their life but diminish the quality of their…
cmonforton | November 14, 2011She's a hospice nurse. When I tell people her occupation, I typically receive a response like this: "She must be a very special person. I could never work in a place where people go to die." Hospice is a "place," and equating hospice to death, are just two of the misperceptions that hospice care providers and proponents are constantly working to dispel. Providing correct information that hospice is a philosophy of care (not a place) takes on special importance in November because it is National Hospice and Palliative Care month.
Data from 2010 indicates that more than 68% of hospice…
palmd | January 26, 2009Morning report is a daily conference for medical residents. It is done differently at different institutions, but normally a case is presented, often by the post-call team, and discussed by the senior residents and an attending physician. Today's case will be the first in an occasional series. --PalMD
Case:
Mrs. M is an 89 year old woman who resides in a nursing home who was admitted with confusion and lethargy. She has a past medical history significant for stroke, coronary artery disease, depression in the distant past, and no history of dementia. She has lost significant weight over…