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/

The LovingKindness, or Metta, meditation (not a typo - that's how it is spelled) is one of my favorite meditations. It offers kindness and healing to you, the people in your life and the world.

This week I offer you a LovingKindness meditation for your own wellbeing. 

You'll notice that there is no intro or ending because I'd like you to hang on to this meditation to use any time you could use a boost of positive energy.

Enjoy! (And then share with a friend)

Delia

P.S., Can you do me a favor? If you find value from this podcast please write a review on iTunes and tell a friend about the podcast. This will help me reach more people, which will help to feed my soul. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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/

Leave your heirs the gift of organization.  Estate planning is crucial but many people put it off because they aren't sure how to proceed.

Adam Zuckerman is an attorney and entrepreneur who created a company, Buried in Work, after losing his father to cancer. Adam is passionate about making estate planning and end of life preparations as easy as possible for families facing serious illness.

His site covers vast topics, from having tough conversations to green burials. He even has card "games" to help families communicate about goals, wishes, legacy, and life stories.

You can find all of these resources at www.buriedinwork.com

Wellbeing for your patients and for you,
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/

We've all had challenging patient or client interactions. It can be hard to know how to handle them and it can make us feel lousy or even derail our day.

You want to be an empathetic physician, nurse, therapist, PA or other clinician but how do you balance empathy with boundaries when a patient or family is angry or mean?

This week join me to reflect on the 8 steps to managing a challenging patient interaction.

Let me know what I missed! Join us on Facebook in the Integrative Palliative Medicine Interest group or reach out through the website at www.integrativepalliative.com.

I appreciate you!
Delia Chiaramonte, MD

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/

Dr. Gary Sprouse is the Less Stress Doc. He is a family physician with expertise in stress management and he's the author of Highway to Your Happy Place: A Roadmap to Less Stress.

This week Dr. Sprouse shares tools and insights to help you manage stress, banish guilt and regret, and live a happier life. 

You can find more information about Dr. Sprouse at www.thelessstressdoc.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/