There has perhaps never been greater awareness of the importance of serious illness communication, nor evidence to support its critical role in achieving effective clinical care. Despite this, trainees and practicing clinicians continue to report feeling underprepared for difficult conversations. Reassuringly, a new guidebook is poised to make talking with seriously ill patients more approachable […]
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The Palliative Times. Special education issue
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Welcome back readers. In this special issue of the Palliative Times we seek to bring snippets of wisdom from our patients, clinicians and others. To start us off we have a […]
Chatbots in Palliative Care-A New Frontier in Holistic care?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare delivery rapidly through its application in the industry. Artificial Intelligence chatbots (AI chatbots) utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) and communicate in a natural human-like way. These AI tools have transformed human and computer interaction to the next level. Moreover, there is potential for further evolution of this technology. AI […]
The Fabian Strategy of the NHS
Dr Matthew Doré (exploring Rome) Palliative Care consultant in Northern Ireland and Hon Secretary of the APM Instead of meeting Hannibal’s forces head-on in a pitched battle, Quintus Fabius Maximus the Roman general opted for a strategy of delay. Fabius won the battle using a deliberate strategy of procrastinating, avoiding and promising to meet and […]
The Cinderella Phenomenon
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Every Friday, between 5 pm and 6 pm large numbers of patients will be declared dying. This phenomenon- known as the the ‘Cinderella Effect’, is common in hospitals and demonstrates how […]
On losing a friend and renouncing Schopenhauer
By Prof Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Cardiff, UK “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena This year, I lost a very dear friend called Yiannis. Only in his late forties, he had a rare form of bone marrow cancer. He was a successful […]
The ‘Grab and Go’ Guide
In this Forum article, the authors describe the ‘Small Steps, Big Vision Grab and Go Guide’ with its focus on children and young adults Authors: Holly Smith, Acting Matron – Children & Young Adults Service St Oswald’s Hospice Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1EE UK, Diane Nicholson, Sister, Children and Young Adults St Oswald’s Hospice […]
3 years in
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Why every hospital deserves a ward for Palliative Care In December 2022 I wrote about our palliative care ward 1– it was just one year old at the time. When I […]
International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference Newsletter – Summer 2024
BMJ SPC Forum, in partnership with the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference, Japan, co-publishes its seasonal Newsletter in the BMJ SPC Forum The following is from the Summer issue of the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer Newsletter that was published in July 2024 for […]
10 Golden rules of palliative care on how to manage a dying person – you’ll never guess number 4!
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 If you prescribe midazolam 5 mg routinely for terminal agitation then you are wrong. Do say – try to use a dose that works first time. Don’t say – but […]