Can you define cisgender? Transgender? Intersex? Gender non-conforming?

Do you know the difference between sex and gender? Have you heard of a 'dead name?'

Do you know why using "Sir" and "Ma'am" can cause you to be inadvertently hurtful to your patients? 

Providing gender affirming care is important but you may not have learned this in school. Join us this week for a primer in the basics of gender affirming healthcare.

What did I miss? Reach out and let me know.
Delia
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Sarah Freeman Smith is a blind inspirational speaker and author, former HR/recruiting leader and disability advocate. She went blind in midlife and in this week's episode of The Integrative Palliative Podcast she shares her journey, the tech that she uses to increase her independence, and guidance for physicians and clinicians to help their visually impaired patients.

Rayban Meta smart glasses have been a game changer for her!

Sara has many resources for the visually impaired and you can find them on her website www.urgems.com. 

October is World Vision Awareness month. 

If you like the podcast be sure to subscribe!
Delia
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Many patients are embalmed or cremated after death, but this isn't the only option. Embalming and cremation have a negative impact on the environment, and other, more eco-friendly, options are becoming popular.

Options such as green burials, human composting, and reef balls give people options for how to handle their loved one's body after death.

Do you think that accepting, and even facilitating, decomposition of a body after death helps us engage in "circle of life" coping? Or are standard funeral services more helpful?

Let me know what you think!

If you like this podcast, please subscribe!

Delia 
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Many physicians, and other clinicians, are wiped out and burned out. They may wonder if they should stay in medicine, or if there is another path that would make them happier.

Yet running away from unhappiness isn't a great strategy because sometimes the unhappiness follows you to your next destination.

Dr. Heather Fork is a dermatologist and physician career coach who guides physicians to a career, and life, that makes them happy.  Sometimes her clients decide to remain in clinical practice and sometimes they find non-clinical positions, but either way Dr. Fork helps them to create happier lives for themselves and their families.

You can find more information about working with Dr. Fork at https://doctorscrossing.com/.

You deserve to be happy!
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Sometimes patients or family members express their stress with anger. And when the anger is directed your way you may get defensive or annoyed and it can put a pall on your day.

Listen to this week's episode for clear guidance about what to do when your patient gets angry so that both of you leave the visit feeling calm.

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Don't be afraid to talk about dying.

We don't learn to talk about dying and so many people are afraid because they don't know what to say. Here are four key topics to bring up with people who have advanced illness such as progressive metastatic cancer. In patients with Alzheimer's disease or other kinds of dementia, it is important to have these conversations early in the disease course.

Today we'll discuss:

• Fear of death
• Need for connection and closure
• Life review 
• Legacy or Love projects

What kind of legacy would you like to leave?

In gratitude,
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Mental status changes in hospice patients are extremely common. Yet are they always due to disease progression?

If a patient suddenly gets confused or sleeps all day, what should you do? Should you counsel the family that this is normal? Order testing? Assess the medication list?

Family members sometimes worry that sending their loved one with advanced cancer, dementia, or other serious illness to hospice will mean that they'll just get morphine but no medical attention. Let's make sure that this stereotype isn't accurate.

Look out for premature closure and keep the patient/family goals in mind.

Delia
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com
Whole person care for people with serious illness using all the tools that work

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Your patient is in terrible pain from cancer and you have the tools to relieve it. Yet they won't take the oxycontin or morphine that you prescribed. 

You can see that they are suffering yet you feel powerless to help. This is a common scenario and it can lead to discord between you and your patients. You may feel like saying, "Well fine then. I can't force you to help yourself..."

You feel frustrated and the patient may not feel supported. 

Here are 30 reasons why your patient may be hesitant to take their pain medication and guidance on what you can do about it. 

Help your patients, improve your doctor-patient relationships, and reduce your frustration.

Let me know how it goes!
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Free guide for physicians to reclaim their wellbeing at work and in life: https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/pl/2148540010 

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

Ketamine is in the news right now because Matthew Perry died from improper use of ketamine and his physicians just got arrested for making that possible.

It is always a bit shocking when physicians get arrested for prescribing medication. It does seem like his physicians were not acting in accordance with their hippocratic oath - if that's true, shame on them.

I do wonder, though, will this make clinicians less inclined to use ketamine to help reduce their patients' suffering. In addition to being an anesthetic, ketamine is used to help reduce severe and persistent chronic pain and depression. 

In the palliative population it can be used orally, but for most people it is used IV and only under the direct (in office) supervision of a physician or other clinician.

Do you use it in your practice? Did this case impact your plans to use ketamine in the future?

Join us in the Integrative Palliative Medicine interest group on Facebook and share your experience.

I appreciate you,
Delia
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/

We live in a soup of uncertainty and so do our patients and clients. Caring for patients with serious illnesses such as cancer or Alzheimers dementia can be extremely stressful because the experience is filled with uncertainty.

Having a clear approach to dealing with uncertainty reduces stress and increases joy. 

This week we discuss 4 Dos and 4 Don'ts for dealing with uncertainty in health and in life.

I'm happy that you're part of the joyful palliative care tribe!
Delia
Delia Chiaramonte, MD
www.integrativepalliative.com

Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com

Please review this podcast wherever you listen and forward your favorite episode to a friend! And be sure to subscribe!

Sign up to stay connected and learn about upcoming programs:
https://trainings.integrativepalliative.com/IPI-stay-in-touch

I'm thrilled to be listed in Feedspot's top 15 palliative podcasts!
https://blog.feedspot.com/palliative_care_podcasts/