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Why Would Mom Choose to Smell Rather Than Use Incontinence Products?
Dear Carol: My mom is only 79 but she has a lot of health problems including lung disease requiring oxygen. She receives good health care through her Medicare policies, and she doesn't need help around the house other than what I can provide by going to see her two or three times a week. Since we live near each other, that's not a problem. The problem is she leaks urine. She doesn't leak constantly, but she does smell most of the time even though she showers. I've told her that she should try some pads, but she refuses, saying that she doesn't need them. Why will she agree to use oxygen but then feel insu...
Source: Minding Our Elders - October 26, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Getting Over the Guilt of Placing a Loved One in a Home
Photo credit Alexander Dummer If we could control events, most of us would never want our elders to be so sick that they need the care of a nursing home, especially homes that are still operating in the dark ages, as some of them still are. Many homes have now moved forward into person-centered care, and reluctant caregivers often find their elders thrive, once they have adjusted. Still, it's hard. For many caregivers, placing an elder in a home spells failure on the part of the caregiver. Even when carers know they've done all they can, a subconscious nagging voice often tells them they are giving up on their parents or...
Source: Minding Our Elders - October 25, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

What is a bidirectional Glenn procedure (BDG)? Cardiology Basics
Bidirectional Glenn procedure is done for children with some types of cyanotic congenital heart diseases.  The classical Glenn procedure is an end to end anastomosis of the superior vena cava to the right pulmonary artery so that the superior vena caval venous blood does not reach the left pulmonary artery. Bidirectional Glenn (BDG) procedure is an end to side anastomosis of superior vena cava to the right pulmonary artery. Main pulmonary artery is then divided and sutured. BDG helps flow into both pulmonary arteries. BDG is usually followed later by a Fontan repair. BDG is performed in patients with anatomical or fu...
Source: Cardiophile MD - October 24, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty – Cardiology Basics
Balloon aortic valvuloplasty – Cardiology Basics Balloon aortic valvuloplasty is enlargement of a narrowed aortic valve using balloon catheters. It is also known as balloon aortic valvotomy. Balloon aortic valvuloplasty has significant risks and lesser benefits compared other procedures for symptomatic severe aortic stenosis like surgical valve replacement and transcatheter aortic valve implantation or TAVI. Hence it is often considered as a bridge treatment or palliative treatment. Three important scenarios in which balloon aortic valvuloplasty or BAV is considered are: Bridge to decision, bridge to planned treatmen...
Source: Cardiophile MD - October 22, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs

Giving language to empathy: lessons from palliative care
The value of empathy in medicine is seldom debated. Just as the art of medicine is taught as the balance of knowledge and application, so has empathy been recognized as both a value to be fostered and a skill to be learned. Medical curricula have reflected this, and while didactics are increasingly filled with various Read more… Giving language to empathy: lessons from palliative care originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 21, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Palliative Care Source Type: blogs

Respecting Elders' Dignity May Require Accepting Risk
Discussions with Elders about HousingConfused About Palliative Care Vs. Hospice Care? You Aren’t AloneExercise May Help Prevent Alzheimer's: Study Shows Why  (Source: Minding Our Elders)
Source: Minding Our Elders - October 19, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Confused About Palliative Care Vs. Hospice Care? You Aren ’t Alone
Discussions with Elders about HousingCalming a Person with Dementia Begins with Joining Their World  (Source: Minding Our Elders)
Source: Minding Our Elders - October 18, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Next of kin in the medical decision making process
Four years ago, as chairman of the hospital ethics committee, I was asked to convene an emergency meeting brought by a distraught family as medical decisions had to be made for their ill loved one. The hospital, HMO lawyers, the family, three adult children, and their mother were at the meeting. The father had arrived Read more… Next of kin in the medical decision making process originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 14, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Palliative Care Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs

The elephant in the room: end-of-life discussion with patients
I have been at my current hospital for 12-plus years now. Like many of you, I have gotten to know some of my patients very well. I have known some of them since I first started out here. We talk about my dogs and cows, our newest grandkids, and politics if we feel adventurous. This Read more… The elephant in the room: end-of-life discussion with patients originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 26, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Palliative Care Primary Care Source Type: blogs

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links –24th September, 2022.
This article makes the case and explains what will be required to make it happen.We hear a lot about “digital health” these days. As data about our health piles up — thanks to sources like electronic health records, personal fitness apps and gadgets, and home genome test kits — weshould understand a lot more than we used to about what ’s wrong with our health and what to do about it. But having a lot of data is not enough. We have to be aware of what we have, understand what it means, and act on that understanding. While the challenges are in some ways more acute in the United States because of its fragmented sys...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - September 24, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs

Making death conversations fun!
“Arriving at an acceptance of one’s mortality is a process, not an epiphany.” – Atul Gawande Imagine a group of old (mature) friends gathered for a “girls” weekend in balmy Florida. The friendships started in grammar school and have continued for the better part of 50 years. These women have met at least once a Read more… Making death conversations fun! originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 21, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Palliative Care Source Type: blogs

Death is what gives life meaning
“He knew it was his time a month ago. We were sitting at the kitchen table, and he told me he couldn’t feel half his face. He kept tapping the left side and saying he couldn’t feel anything. I knew he had a stroke because my daughter had one. He was stubborn, didn’t want to Read more… Death is what gives life meaning originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 15, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Palliative Care Source Type: blogs

A patient gave this physician her humanity back
I am a physician. We are always taught to see our patients as more than their state of illness or diagnosis. “Speak to the patient,” “listen,” “look them in the eye,” “do not put one foot out the door,” the list of do’s and don’ts, while self-explanatory, is long. A good doctor is considered one Read more… A patient gave this physician her humanity back originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 13, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Palliative Care Source Type: blogs

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest by Physicians Creating the CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines: Bad Faith or Incompetence?
We described above how changes in opioid policy aimed at reducing Washington State’s Medicaid and Workers Compensation costs contributed to an increase in methadone deaths between 2003 and late 2014 (23-25). Focusing on similar cost reductions, the Centers for Medicar e and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rules for 2019 including several directives intended to reduce " Opioid Overutilization, ” including adoption of the “90 morphine milligram equivalent (MME) threshold cited by the 2016 CDC Opioid Guideline (147, 148). Simply put, reduced prescribing reduces costs for prescribed medications.Chou received research fu...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - September 12, 2022 Category: Palliative Care Tags: health policy judy kollas opioids research schechtman Source Type: blogs

What anticipatory grief feels like
An excerpt from A Caregiver’s Love Story. After Bill was given his terminal diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and the bloody nose scare, I began to worry about the future. It was like “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” wondering when and how his death would happen. I didn’t want him to suffer and Read more… What anticipatory grief feels like originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 10, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Palliative Care Source Type: blogs