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Palliatively Speaking Ep 6 - Better Conversations, Better Care
This conversation explores the challenges and strategies involved in helping clinicians, particularly surgeons, improve their communication and decision-making practices to provide better patient-centered care. Dr. Gretchen Schwarze, a vascular surgeon and medical ethicist, and Dr. Amy Zelenski, an education researcher, discuss how their collaborative work aims to shift clinicians' mindsets and behaviors around informed consent, prognostic communication, and shared decision-making. They share how surgeons often struggle to move beyond a "fix it" mentality to meaningful improvements in patients' lives. Dr. Schwarze advocates reframing the surgeon's role as assessing whether an operation can help the patient achieve their goals, rather than just fixing a problem. With background in theater, Dr. Zelenski discusses the power of improv-based strategies like the "two-minute rant" and other techniques in cultivating empathy and empowering clinicians to respond rather than react to what is happening in their surrounding environment.
Guest: Gretchen Schwarze
Guest’s guest: Amy Zelenski
Episode Title: Better Conversations, Better Care
Summary
This conversation explores the challenges and strategies involved in helping clinicians, particularly surgeons, improve their communication and decision-making practices to provide better patient-centered care. Dr. Gretchen Schwarze, a vascular surgeon and medical ethicist, and Dr. Amy Zelenski, an education researcher, discuss how their collaborative work aims to shift clinicians' mindsets and behaviors around informed consent, prognostic communication, and shared decision-making. They share how surgeons often struggle to move beyond a "fix it" mentality to meaningful improvements in patients' lives. Dr. Schwarze advocates reframing the surgeon's role as assessing whether an operation can help the patient achieve their goals, rather than just fixing a problem. With background in theater, Dr. Zelenski discusses the power of improv-based strategies like the "two-minute rant" and other techniques in cultivating empathy and empowering clinicians to respond rather than react to what is happening in their surrounding environment.
Palliatively Speaking Ep 3 - Mentoring the Next Great Leaders
Guest: Stephanie Harman
Guest's guest: Shireen Heidari
In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Harman, a palliative care physician and leader at Stanford, takes us through her remarkable leadership journey. From founding Stanford’s Palliative Care clinical program to establishing a leadership development program for women in medicine, Dr. Harman shares invaluable insights into the challenges and triumphs of building successful programs for the next generation. Dr. Harman shares how she draws on her expertise and experience as a palliative care provider to drive her leadership initiatives, emphasizing a process-oriented approach over outcomes and placing a strong focus on cultivating communication skills in leadership programs.
A central theme of the conversation is mentorship—Dr. Harman shares how she was guided by leaders like Dr. Bob Arnold and how she now pays it forward by supporting and advocating for junior faculty and empowering them to thrive and succeed in their careers. Dr. Shireen Heidari, the program director for the Stanford University Hospice and Palliative Fellowship, joins the conversation to discuss the role of narrative medicine, emphasizing how writing can help process the emotional intensity of palliative care. Together, they explore the importance of communication, the lessons learned from working with seriously ill patients, and the need for ongoing mentorship to cultivate purposeful leadership in palliative care.
Guest: Stephanie Harman
Guest's guest: Shireen Heidari
In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Harman, a palliative care physician and leader at Stanford, takes us through her remarkable leadership journey. From founding Stanford’s Palliative Care clinical program to establishing a leadership development program for women in medicine, Dr. Harman shares invaluable insights into the challenges and triumphs of building successful programs for the next generation. Dr. Harman shares how she draws on her expertise and experience as a palliative care provider to drive her leadership initiatives, emphasizing a process-oriented approach over outcomes and placing a strong focus on cultivating communication skills in leadership programs.
A central theme of the conversation is mentorship—Dr. Harman shares how she was guided by leaders like Dr. Bob Arnold and how she now pays it forward by supporting and advocating for junior faculty and empowering them to thrive and succeed in their careers. Dr. Shireen Heidari, the program director for the Stanford University Hospice and Palliative Fellowship, joins the conversation to discuss the role of narrative medicine, emphasizing how writing can help process the emotional intensity of palliative care. Together, they explore the importance of communication, the lessons learned from working with seriously ill patients, and the need for ongoing mentorship to cultivate purposeful leadership in palliative care.
Palliatively Speaking Ep 2 - Compassion: The Key to High Quality Care
Guest: Arif Kamal
Guest’s Guest: Christopher Jones
Dr. Arif Kamal, an oncologist, palliative care physician and Chief Patient Officer at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Kamal reflects on his work in oncology and palliative care, emphasizing compassion in cancer care, the role AI assistive intelligence will play in enhancing the role of humans in healthcare, and the importance of a supportive community to help you weather career setbacks.
Dr. Kamal discusses how palliative care principles, like understanding a patient’s needs and values, can be integrated into routine oncology care and how this could become easier as the field of medicine incorporates the assistive intelligence aspects of AI that can assist with generating differential diagnoses and treatment considerations. He advocates for the role of compassionate care such as considering first, who is our patient before determining what the treatment approach should be where healthcare providers prioritize understanding who the patient is before focusing on medical conditions or treatments. We discuss the future impact of AI in enhancing decision-making in oncology and he calls for a shift in how care providers are incentivized, promoting compassion as an essential component of high-quality healthcare.
Dr. Kamal discusses the role of mentors in his life, career setbacks, and personal experiences that shaped his path, highlighting resilience and the importance of finding supportive communities. We welcome his guest, Dr. Christopher Jones, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Palliative Medicine and the clinical vice chair for Duke Palliative Care. They discuss operationalizing palliative care interventions, the human side of medicine, the challenges of burnout and the importance of creating a balance between professional responsibilities and personal well-being.
Guest: Arif Kamal Guest’s Guest: Christopher Jones Dr. Arif Kamal, an oncologist, palliative care physician and Chief Patient Officer at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Kamal reflects on his work in oncology and palliative care, emphasizing compassion in cancer care, the role AI assistive intelligence will play in enhancing the role of humans in healthcare, and the importance of a supportive community to help you weather career setbacks. Dr. Kamal discusses how palliative care principles, like understanding a patient’s needs and values, can be integrated into routine oncology care and how this could become easier as the field of medicine incorporates the assistive intelligence aspects of AI that can assist with generating differential diagnoses and treatment considerations. He advocates for the role of compassionate care such as considering first, who is our patient before determining what the treatment approach should be where healthcare providers prioritize understanding who the patient is before focusing on medical conditions or treatments.
We discuss the future impact of AI in enhancing decision-making in oncology and he calls for a shift in how care providers are incentivized, promoting compassion as an essential component of high-quality healthcare. Dr. Kamal discusses the role of mentors in his life, career setbacks, and personal experiences that shaped his path, highlighting resilience and the importance of finding supportive communities. We welcome his guest, Dr. Christopher Jones, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Palliative Medicine and the clinical vice chair for Duke Palliative Care. They discuss operationalizing palliative care interventions, the human side of medicine, the challenges of burnout and the importance of creating a balance between professional responsibilities and personal well-being.
Palliatively Speaking Trailer
In this podcast, host Toby Campbell dives into the inspiring journeys of clinicians from all corners of palliative care. You’ll hear from palliative care physicians, nurses, social workers, scientists, and chaplains who are making a profound impact through their groundbreaking research, advocacy work, innovative tools, and, of course, by being there for patients and families in their most vulnerable moments.
We’ll explore what drives them, how they got started, the challenges they've faced, and those moments of clarity that changed everything. Stick around; you’re about to be inspired and transformed.
About the show:
Dr. Toby Campbell talks to the brightest minds in the field of palliative care. Together, they examine the experts’ knowledge about culture, medicine, communication and what it means to truly live, and die, well.
Each episode, his guest brings a guest to the show. A guest's guest. Dr. Campbell lets them introduce each other so that we can see these special people through the eyes of someone who knows them best.
Listen to Palliatively Speaking.
Credits:
Podcast production: SPEAK.STUDIO
Co-production, writing, editing, Instagram, basically all the things big and little: Bonyan Qudah, PhD
Graphic design and website creation: Jinger Schroeder, Inc.
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