We had a much more relaxed day today, starting with a hike to a waterfall. Our informal conversations while walking covered a brief history of medicine which made me ponder the roots of values we strive for today in medicine. Its a wonder how we went from a time when hospitals were viewed as places to die violently to places where people feel comfortable seeking help. It is obvious from statistics presented during this week that medical errors are still a major presence in this system, but clearly we have developed a level of institutional confidence that we are helping people most of the time. I do think this is true and not simply hubris. Its a wonder how we got here, given the malignant cultures that modern medicine has developed through. In some ways, we not so far away from a time when medicine was still in a… Continue reading →

Today was my first full day with the conference. Themes that we encountered included shared decision making, transparency, and once again what I view as a central point in the conference of physician infallibility. What I witnessed during the discussion regarding shared decision making and transparency was consensus that it is important, but an uncomfortable open-ended nature to definitions. Discussions around what exactly informed consent means, how to evaluate for medical literacy, and what truly constitutes as shared decision making resonate with me. In situations where literacy make it impossible to truly present all factors in a disease process and management decision (especially in the setting of language barriers), can you ever truly achieve a shared decision? I can tell a patient that anaphylaxis is a risk of a medication, but can they ever truly understand what it means to go into anaphylaxis, go into respiratory arrest, to die? When… Continue reading →