Get your loved one’s fingerprint! I’m so glad the funeral home suggested it. That’s my dad’s fingerprint on my necklace - I’m so grateful to have it

When you experience traumatic grief the grief and trauma get all mushed together. Sometimes the trauma part can make normal grieving harder #grieving #caregiver #endoflife

I’m grieving my own beloved dad right now. It’s not only sad, it’s also exhausting, complicated, and it makes regular life harder than usual. PSA: give grieving people a lot of slack 💛 #grieving #grief

It's #WorldHealthDay! The Canadian Virtual Hospice provides support and personalized information about advanced illness, #PalliativeCare, loss and #Grief to people living with illness, family members, people working in #HealthCare, educators, and researchers.

@maddow.msnbc.com thank you for bravely speaking the truth and sticking up for your coworkers. I am grateful for your example of how to be a deeply decent human!

I finished recording my audiobook today! (for Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself). I’ve been procrastinating for a year & am so happy to have finally done it! I took 1 tiny step & that got me going. What helps you get unstuck?

Physicians, even elected ones, should support science. People who are in charge of national healthcare should also support science.

Does it seem like our nation needs some palliative care? Are we the anxious family with anticipatory grief? #HPM #palliativecare

If your loved one is aging or seriously ill, don’t mess up your relationship with them by being overly controlling. When time is short, connection matters. #caregiving #cancer #palliativecare

Think of two buckets. One bucket holds your preparation for what you hope doesn’t happen and the other bucket holds your hope for a good outcome. Usually when I say this I’m taking about serious illness. But right now that’s not the only place that it applies.

The CDC is scrubbing manuscripts of gender affirming language? When being kind to other people has become unacceptable, what have we become? #medsky

Choose your words carefully when you talk to people who have declining function due to age or illness. Don’t say: “oh is it too hard for you to go out? I’ll bring you lunch.” Say this: “I’m happy to bring lunch to you if you’d prefer”

When life is tough… - do the next reasonably good thing - breathe slowly and deeply - share the feelings with someone. - go outside - look away from screens - pet your dog - get enough sleep - listen to music that makes your body move - find something that makes you laugh What would you add?

BREAKING: For the first time in its more than 60-year history, the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) did not go out as scheduled because of a communications pause at federal health agencies issued by the Trump administration. #medsky www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

Courage. When the opportunity arises to be courageous, grab it. Tough conversations? Admitting a mistake? Speaking truth to power? Here’s an example of courage www.threads.net/@meidastouch...

Denial gets a bad rap. Sometimes it is a helpful, temporary coping strategy #medsky

If you're a physician or clinician with an inking that you'd like to be an entrepreneur, this episode is for you. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

For oncology & palliative care physicians/clinicians: I'm creating a program called Healing the Heart of the Healer for those who feel depleted, disillusioned, or worn out. For now, here's a free 7 step guide to improve wellbeing in clinicians who care for the ill or aging. Link in comments.🌺

Your cognitively intact elderly parent may make decisions that you disagree with. They may even make decisions that could shorten their life. They have the right to make these decisions. It’s OK for you to not like this and also not try to control or change it. #palliativecare #medsky

A few important nots: - hospice is not a place - palliative care is not hospice - talking about death does not make people give up or die - at the end of life food does not make you stronger - taking morphine for advanced cancer pain does not mean you’re dying/an addict/giving up #palliativecare

Excited (and a little nervous) to be interviewed on Baltimore’s NPR station about palliative care! #palliativecare #HPM

Any physicians who have experience writing USMLE style questions? In the med ed side of my work I am looking to hire some contractors to write Qs. Flexible, remote. Reach out if interested (and tell your friends!)

I had some meaningful conversations this week with an aging parent and with my young adult daughters. It took courage, vulnerability and an open-hearted approach. Is there a conversation that you’ve been meaning to have?

This week's podcast: The Tyranny of Expectations. Holidays are packed w/ expectations. We create expectations like "everyone will get along and be pleasant over holiday break," get disappointed when our expectation aren't met & create unnecessary negativity & suffering. #holidaystress Link below

I see palliative care as symptom management + avoiding regret. ...decisions you made or didn't make ...relationships that you didn't mend. ...important conversations that you never got around to having. I talk about avoiding regret on The Integrative Palliative this week (link in comments).

I learned today that fentanyl patches shouldn’t be placed over tattoos because the patient won’t get the full dose of the med. Did everyone know this but me?? #Medsky #palliaky #palliative

If someone you love is seriously ill and cure isn’t an option, consider making avoiding regret (things unsaid, fights about dumb things, etc) one of your primary goals

I so appreciate the Author Spotlight in the Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy associated with my article. All palliative care should be integrative palliative care! #palliative #HPM #hapc #medsky #pallisky #integrativepalliative www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Advance Directives & Emergency Medicine: Wisdom From the Front Lines with Dan Morhaim, MD #MedSky #medicaleducation #HAPC podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The U.K. is wrestling with the idea of legalizing medically assisted dying. This is NOT the same as euthanasia - an important distinction. #medsky #palliative

Being a caregiver is hard - even harder at the holidays. As a physician with expertise helping families cope with illness, I've made a program to help you provide excellent care to your loved one w/out losing yourself. Normally $397 but for now only $37. You'll have access for a year+. Link below.

When you visit your aging relatives for the holidays check out the stability of their gait and look for tripping hazards. Preventing falls is everything. Tell the others. #medsky

My dog gets her needs met. She has this “please please” thing for when she wants food/out/walk/cuddles. She doesn’t withdraw if we don’t meet her needs with the first ask or assume that we don’t care and that her needs don’t matter. She tries a new person or a new way. We can learn from dogs.

McGraw Hill medical publisher is taking applications for their pathfinder award (innovative educators). There’s a post-grad section so med educators can apply! $5,000 prize plus more. Apply at www.mheducation.com/pathfinder-a... #medicaleducation

Great simple education piece on the difference between delirium and dementia

Improvements in pain, fatigue, anxiety, wellbeing, and sleep after integrative oncology referral. Integrative symptom management is just a bigger (ideally evidence-supported) tool box. #medsky #meded #palliative

Please teach your medical learners the difference between dementia and delirium so no one ever writes “intermittent dementia” again! #medsky #meded

I’m reading about virtual reality to support patients near end of life. Anyone using it? #MedSky #palliative #HAPC #HPM #pallisky

I’m working on a textbook chapter on integrative end-of-life care. I just read a study on demoralization in people with a prognosis of weeks. 72.8% had medium or high demoralization: emotional distress, loss of meaning, worthlessness, sense of failure, dysphoria. We need to do better.

Managing the Holidays When Someone Important is Missing - this week on The Integrative Palliative Podcast. It’s a quick listen. What would you add? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

This.

I just taught integrative palliative care to HPM fellows at Johns Hopkins. I so enjoy teaching integrative palliative care - it’s my jam! We talked about searching for the causes underlying a symptom, the impact of trauma on the nervous system, acupuncture for depression and more. #palliative #hapc

Holidays are extra hard if you’re missing someone because the rituals often symbolize togetherness. The societal (& internal) expectation of joyful connectedness adds to the feeling of loss. If you’re missing someone this holiday season, can you intentionally create new rituals? Share your ideas!

Who is using #AI in medical education? How are you using it and how is it going? #meded #medicaleducation

I would like to speak up today for the trans community. You see, I know a bit of what it’s like to be politically scapegoated. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, suddenly anyone in America who had any amount of Japanese ancestry became suspect. Politicians preyed upon ignorance and fear. /1

New Alzheimer’s treatment - requires LP, IV infusion, and possibly serious SEs with moderate cognitive improvement. Is it worth it?

I asked my dad if he is afraid to die and when he said he isn’t I felt so relieved.

The holidays may be the first time the family has seen mom/dad/grandma/grandpa in a while. How is their function? Hygiene? Short term memory? Mood? #medsky #hapc #palliative #chronicillness