Today was focused on a menagerie of topics. The two that really hit me were informed consent and shared decision making. Both are simple ideas that can be easily integrated into practice but there seems to be a constant struggle to utilize these concepts in a patient centered manner. I never realized that shared decision making was a difficult concept that others struggle to integrate into their practice since my school teaches it as part of standard practice and the concept of not including that seems so foreign to me because of that. But I guess that just further demonstrates how things are changing in medicine, when the new generation is being taught something from the get go and never knew that other options existed. Informed consent is also a really important thing that I think we as health practitioners do not give enough attention too. Its so important for… Continue reading →

It is mind blowing that something so simple as clear transparent communication can be such a revolutionary idea in medicine. And the fact that it has taken so long for simple logical things, like good communication, to start to be integrated into practice even though humans have been practicing medicine in some form since the dawn of time is almost infuriating. I guess better late than never as the saying goes. One thing that really struck me was the statement “every hour that goes by without telling the patient/family of an adverse event is another harm”. Clear, transparent, honest communication is an ethical/moral must in medicine. To withhold information about a patient’s health is to deny them the most intimate knowledge of themself. Information that is inherently theirs and was only entrusted to you given your role as the provider. To withhold or delay the deliverance of that information is… Continue reading →