First Day of Palliative Care Medicine

[desanipt]

I can't stop picturing him shh-shh-ing himself with one hand while holding the camera on the other xd

[kevincase]

As a stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma warrior, I can truly say that my palliative care team as given me a much better quality of life as I fight this cancer. I also want to say that palliative care is thought of as an end of life treatment, but it’s so much more.

[astro_gabe]

Having aged 80 years over the span of 4 weeks in neurosurgery, med student has now arrived at the end of the med school lifecycle, where they may finally rest.

[fourelementswolf]

Fun fact: fans can sometimes help dyspneic patients at end of life. The air flow hitting facial receptors can help alleviate the feeling of being short of breath.

[DoctorAzmain]

In my experience, palliative care consultants/attendings are always SO nice, but also VERY upfront about the realities of death and dying. I guess it comes with the territory of the specialty!

[txgh]

Oh my god this was literally my Palliative med rotation, that distinct soft spoken voice was everywhere I thought I walked into another dimension

[Dee-mnud]

When you realize the fan is based off a palliative care paper That determined that a bedside fan relieves dying patients of air hunger as equally as supplemental O2.

[sheridangardner]

I love palliative care doctors. I am a nurse and worked on a Neuro trauma floor for a while when I first graduated. The first time I had a patient die was awful. The other docs involved were rude and the whole thing was really emotional. The palliative care doc actually looked for me and found me a little while after the patient passed to make sure I was okay. After a really emotionally draining experience, it was such a relief to have someone check up on me. Love palliative care providers! Seriously some of the nicest docs I have ever worked with.

[TheCarrot]

Stepping into the Palliative Care floor always feel like stepping into the heaven part of the hospital. They not only support the patient but also the family members.
Shout out to the team that supported our family when my father was on his last days, seriously, thank you for what you did.

[mossychaossystem]

My stomach drops every time I hear the phrase "have you thought about your goals of care?" When you care for someone with a terminal illness, it's almost all you hear.

[xAshuriix]

Palliative care medicine is such an interesting specialty. I think you have to really be a specific type of person to work with patients at the end of their lives. In other specialties, at least some of your patients get better, but you'll never get that in palliative care. Just researching and writing about it was draining emotionally, I have so much respect for people who do this job every day.

...I would also like a fan and a cookie and some music, though. That would be nice.

[larissalewis]

When my granddad was sick and they put him on home hospice he got a at home nurse who was equally as backwoods as him. It was beautiful. She helped me put big wheels on his chair so we could go down the trails up home. She spoke to him like just another country folk. And we all loved her. He said one day "this means I'm diein".. She said yeah.. but did u live. He said everyday. With a smile. I'll always remember Nancy. Thank you nancy

[Rose_Sakura]

This is very relatable. I used to do palliative care and yes we had a guitar that staff played for the patients. We also had music therapy where a volunteer played harp and some of the patients thought they were dead but we had to tell them they weren’t dead yet.

[JuliaLawley]

Having spent time in a Hospice for pain control after a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, I have to say that Palliative Care Doctors are, in fact, Angels that have no problems in discussing death, Advance Care Directives, wills, funerals, Power of Attorney whilst fluffing your pillows and offering tea and biscuits (or even a gin and tonic if the need dictates). The empathy also extends to the family too, and the way they deal with children is wonderfully empathetic.

[woshwbdsiashqwed]

Waiting for the palliative care doctor to give the therapist a reverse therapy.

[lexicon]

As a palliative care chaplain this so accurate! Caring with gallows humor, it's a weird combo for outsiders!

[beerman]

The best we can do is make you feel better by using morphine and a ukulele.

[discogoth]

I was a hospice CNA for several years and absolutely loved it. It’s really special to be with someone in their last few months before their time on earth ends, especially because that time is often spent discussing their life and thinking about the other side. As a philosophy graduate, I loved those conversations and everyone’s thoughts were a little different. Since I worked in a nursing home most of my patients were quite elderly and lived long, full lives and were ready to go. So although I always cried when my patients died, it wasn’t as soul crushing as you’d expect. And the pace isn’t quite as fast, things don’t go wrong quite as immediately as in med surg or emergency medicine. My patients did require a LOT of assistance, as most needed my help with everything and I had a lot of patients, but it wasn’t as stressful as some other specialities. For me, the biggest stressor was giving my patients the death they wanted. I know the phrase is “you only live once” but that’s untrue! You live everyday and everyday you can choose to do at least one thing a little bit differently. You only die once and it’s important to a palliative care team that you get the death you want. It’s scary to face your mortality, especially as we don’t know what happens to our soul/consciousness after death, so the most
stressful aspect was making sure everyone had the tools they needed to face death bravely and calmly, without regrets. In my experience, the worst experience was when a patient who expressed wanting their family with them when they began actively dying, died suddenly and therefore alone. Those were the patients that were the hardest, especially for folks whose family didn’t come see them often, so some died alone not having seen their family in months to years.

[amityislandchum]

My neurosurgery rotation actually went really well, owing to the fact that I did my PhD in Neuroscience and just had a lot to talk about with them.

That is, until I only had 3 days left, and happened to bring up my Master's thesis which revolved around using H-MRS to grade glioblastomas, hopefully eliminating the need for surgical biopsies one day. Those last 3 days made up for all the missed time of soul-crushing.

I did not go into neurosurgery.

[caitlinvannatten]

Palliative care is giving/managing quality of life concerns with patients with chronic conditions.
Hospice comes into play when you have been diagnosed with 6 months approximately left in this world. Thank goodness they both exist ❤️🙏🏻🌈