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Story telling helps the patient and family living through some of the most difficult and uncertain times in their lives realize what matters and what does not matter. It can better enable them to make high stakes decisions because they can now visualize themselves moving forward on a particular path.

After multiple iterations in ChatGPT and then in Claude, I finalized an infographic based on Pearl 2: How Do I Know a Patient is a Good Candidate to Receive Hospice Support? Once upon a time, over a decade ago, as a hospitalist attending newbie, I had so little knowledge of hospice support that I never brought up the hospice path as a possible path, even with patients whom I knew were "stuck" in the revolving door of recurrent hospitalizations and asking for a way to get out

“The family’s in denial. Can you meet with them and help clarify goals?” asked the medical ICU team. Often times the palliative care team is consulted to speak with a patient or family “in denial,” and upon listening to the patient or family, the palliative care team may find that denial is not the actual issue. Rather, it is misunderstanding, misconception, and/or miscommunication that is driving the disconnect between healthcare providers and the patient and family. O

Sometimes my medical colleagues say, “This patient is of sound mind and can make all medical decisions on their own,” implying a serious...

“I’ll keep going until the patient tells me they want to stop,” the medical specialist tells me. “I’ll keep going until the doctor...

A patient should meet two criteria to be a good candidate for receiving hospice support. 1. Does the patient meet medical eligibility...

Most clinicians in clinic have a sense that a patient “isn’t doing well” when they read through a patient’s chart and note recurrent...