Doctors’ Burnout, Cremation and a Blog Birthday (Research, Video: .51)

Welcome to my sixth Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog birthday party! Now that you’re here, have some mouth-watering chocolate cake while I tell you about blogging predictions. A fantastic aspect of blogging is predicting which posts will be most popular. I’ve been surprised many times. With thousands of pageviews, these are the top two posts over the past six years:

1) Hospice-Palliative Care Doctors and Burnout (Research, Video 5:48) 

Posted in 2010, this post is by far the most viewed of all. I was particularly attracted to writing it because the research and video concerning doctors’ burnout are eye-openers about their personal career suffering.

2) Cremation Process and Storage of Cremains (Video 2:32) 

If there is any doubt that cremation continues to grow in acceptance in America, this post proves it. Posted in 2010, it continues to receive pageviews regularly.

My goodness! The years keep ending and beginning, and now it's 2013. Blogging is a challenging, rewarding and service-oriented activity for me. A solitary process, it still gives me opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with interesting, like-minded people all over the world. My objectives are to promote more interest in hospice and palliative care, share my personal journey and insights as a hospice volunteer, increase person-centered nursing homes, and improve quality of life for older adults in general.

Thank you for dropping by my blog birthday party and for any other times you have visited this site. Commemorating this milestone with the Happy Birthday song sponsored by the American Cancer Society is singer, actress and spokesperson Jennifer Hudson:

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers in America and other countries and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Patients Rate Communication With Doctors (Research, Video: 52)

Does your doctor communicate well with you? Can you ask any question and feel heard, cared for, and unrushed? Are you involved in treatment decisions? Good communication includes compassion, respect, and attentive listening skills. To some degree, these skills can be taught, which is why medical students are given formal training in them. What are the mutual benefits? Doctors can benefit from fewer lawsuits and better reputations, which can enhance their careers. Patients benefit with happier healthcare experiences and better health, even in terms of life and death.

But what is too often the reality of patient-doctor communication from patients’ perspectives? A study reported in Cancer revealed these research results from questionnaires answered by 276 white, black, and Hispanic patients in various stages of lung cancer:

1)   For most topics, the majority of respondents reported that physicians communicated "not at all" or "a little bit."

2)   Low ratings were frequent for discussion of emotional symptoms, confidence interval, practical needs, spiritual concerns, proxy appointment, living will preparation, life support preferences, and hospice.

3)    Communication was inadequate for patients of different ages, stages, and races, although Hispanics were less likely than non-Hispanic whites and blacks to report inadequate communication.

Unfortunately, many of the topics reporting low rates of physician-patient communication impact patients’ health in very detrimental ways, including additional stress, impaired decision-making, and compromised outcomes. These results support research from Massachusetts General Hospital regarding the link between doctor –patient communication and outcomes. This video shares research results and insights for the future.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers and in e-book form at Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog