Thursday, April 25, 2013
Editorial decisions and challenges in upkeep will mean that Pallimed: Case Conferences will be moving to the main Pallimed website (www.pallimed.org). While we know we have not posted here with regularity for a while, the move will allow us to begin regularly posting new cases and importing the current posts and comments here back to the main site. The move will also allow the reader the chance to search on related topics on one blog and make it easier to coordinate similar materials. We will also
There may be some technical hiccups as we get the comments and posts synced up so please bear with us.
Current Email Subscribers: All current email subscribers will be imported to the main Pallimed list. I will work at removing any duplicate subscribers, plus the email updates have a very simple unsubscribe option. If you are only interested in Case Conferences we eventually will be moving to a new subscription system in the the next month which will allow for you to just choose Cases if those interest you most.
Comments: Comments will be closed on all Case Conference posts as of this posting. We will sync your comments over to the new post in addition to posting a follow-back link.
Pallimed Case Conferences (cases.pallimed.org) will stay online as an archived source, but will no longer be updated. For new cases go to http://www.pallimed.org/search/label/cases
If you are interested in submitting a Case or even potentially becoming a Section Editor for Case Conferences please email christian@pallimed.org
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Cases blog will be acting as a redesign test site for all of the Pallimed blogs since it has been dormant for so many months. No worries fans of great cases, it will soon be back to posting cases every other week.
Expect delays and odd formatting issues Saturday March 12th through the 14th.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thursday, November 25, 2010
For three years running now, many of us bloggers have participated in what we’ve called a “blog rally” to promote Engage With Grace – a movement aimed at making sure all of us understand, communicate, and have honored our end-of-life wishes.
The rally is timed to coincide with a weekend when most of us are with the very people with whom we should be having these unbelievably important conversations – our closest friends and family.
At the heart of Engage With Grace are five questions designed to get the conversation about end-of-life started. We’ve included them at the end of this post. They’re not easy questions, but they are important -- and believe it or not, most people find they actually enjoy discussing their answers with loved ones. The key is having the conversation before it’s too late.
This past year has done so much to support our mission to get more and more people talking about their end-of-life wishes. We’ve heard stories with happy endings … and stories with endings that could’ve (and should’ve) been better. We’ve stared down political opposition. We’ve supported each other’s efforts. And we’ve helped make this a topic of national importance.
So in the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, we’d like to highlight some things for which we’re grateful.
Thank you to Atul Gawande for writing such a fiercely intelligent and compelling piece on “letting go”– it is a work of art, and a must read.
Thank you to whomever perpetuated the myth of “death panels” for putting a fine point on all the things we don’t stand for, and in the process, shining a light on the right we all have to live our lives with intent – right through to the end.
Thank you to TEDMED for letting us share our story and our vision.
And of course, thank you to everyone who has taken this topic so seriously, and to all who have done so much to spread the word, including sharing The One Slide.
We share our thanks with you, and we ask that you share this slide with your family, friends, and followers. Know the answers for yourself, know the answers for your loved ones, and appoint an advocate who can make sure those wishes get honored – it’s something we think you’ll be thankful for when it matters most.
Here’s to a holiday filled with joy – and as we engage in conversation with the ones we love, we engage with grace.
To learn more please go to www.engagewithgrace.org. This post was written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
In consideration of the many family dinners that will occur over the next few days of the Thanksgiving holiday, we are hosting (along with several other medical bloggers) a guest post from Engage with Grace and the One Slide Project. This post will stay at the top of this blog from Tuesday the 24th until Sunday the 29th. You can also join the Engage with Grace group on Facebook.
Have a safe and meaningful Thanksgiving!
Some conversations are easier than others
Last Thanksgiving weekend, many of us bloggers participated in the first documented “blog rally” to promote Engage With Grace – a movement aimed at having all of us understand and communicate our end-of-life wishes.
It was a great success, with over 100 bloggers in the healthcare space and beyond participating and spreading the word. Plus, it was timed to coincide with a weekend when most of us are with the very people with whom we should be having these tough conversations – our closest friends and family.
Our original mission – to get more and more people talking about their end of life wishes – hasn’t changed. But it’s been quite a year – so we thought this holiday, we’d try something different.
A bit of levity.
At the heart of Engage With Grace are five questions designed to get the conversation started. We’ve included them at the end of this post. They’re not easy questions, but they are important.
To help ease us into these tough questions, and in the spirit of the season, we thought we’d start with five parallel questions that ARE pretty easy to answer:
Silly? Maybe. But it underscores how having a template like this – just five questions in plain, simple language – can deflate some of the complexity, formality and even misnomers that have sometimes surrounded the end-of-life discussion.
So with that, we’ve included the five questions from Engage With Grace below. Think about them, document them, share them.
Over the past year there’s been a lot of discussion around end of life. And we’ve been fortunate to hear a lot of the more uplifting stories, as folks have used these five questions to initiate the conversation.
One man shared how surprised he was to learn that his wife’s preferences were not what he expected. Befitting this holiday, The One Slide now stands sentry on their fridge.
Wishing you and yours a holiday that’s fulfilling in all the right ways.
(To learn more please go to www.engagewithgrace.org. This post was written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team. )
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, March 13, 2008
(Last updated March 2011)
Cases have had names and facts altered or are composite cases and are not intended to represent any individual patient. If you think a case presented here represents you please contact us.
The cases in the posts originate from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Institute to Enhance Palliative Care, unless where clearly indicated otherwise.
If you contribute to this blog with a comment, please recognize that you may be releasing your own protected health information and Pallimed nor its contributors are responsible for any use of this information by third parties.
Pallimed and its volunteer staff do not collect any personally identifying information about site visitors or commenters other than what you voluntarily disclose. Subscribers (via RSS or email) are kept private and the information will not be distributed or accessible to anyone but Drew or Christian. Website stats for visitors are tracked by Google Analytics, but no identifiable information is kept which could identify a user. Pallimed uses 'cookies' to track returning visitors, but again this data will not identify a individual user, nor is it kept over time.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
In addition, all opinions expressed on this blog should never be taken as medical advice in any form. Please consult with your own physician about medical issues.
Thanks for taking an interest in Pallimed: Case Conferences.
For general inquiries please contact the editor, Christian Sinclair, MD: christian@pallimed.org
You can also find us on Twitter: @ctsinclair or @pallimed
We do not accept advertisements, link exchanges or other forms of promotion. Please do contact us if you are interested in these transactions, since you will be referred to this post.
NOTE: Pallimed: Case Conferences closed April 25, 2013 as an individual sub-blog and new Cases are being posted at the main site www.pallimed.org. Old posts from this site will be imported with comments to www.pallimed.org. Comments at cases.pallimed.org are closed.
Pallimed: Case Conferences was founded April 11, 2008. It is sometimes referred to as 'Cases'
From the beginning of this blog cases have been posted roughly twice a month. Consistent posting stopped in May 2009 because of increased workload at the main Pallimed blog. Pallimed Case Conferences has always had a blue color scheme to help identify it when looking at all the Pallimed blogs.
Cases was part of the 2008 overall redesign of Pallimed and at that time had a dark blue on beige color scheme. As of March 2011 all Pallimed blogs underwent a major redesign with a focus on simplification and ease of use with a emphasis on social. The color scheme now is navy blue on white with subtle goldenrod accents. In March 2011, Pallimed: Case Conferences also opened up to guest submissions from professionals and the public. While not focused on direct medical advice, aspects of the cases may be informative to professionals and the public to discuss openly.
Yearly Site Traffic for Pallimed: Case Conferences
2008: 3122 hits, 4496 pageviews
2009: 4935 hits, 6668 pageviews
2010: 9238 hits, 12533 pageviews
Pallimed is a volunteer effort and has never and will never accept advertisements.
Our target audience is the professionals (MD, DO, RN, LPN, LVN, Home Health Aide, ARNP, SW, Chaplain, Administrators, PT, OT, Speech, Pharmacy, etc.) working in hospice and palliative care, but we welcome all readers to this blog, including patients, families and other medical professionals outside of this field.
Our goal is to review current palliative medicine, hospice, end-of-life cases. On the main blog we highlight research and important events in end-of-life care from the news media and entertainment arenas. Pallimed: Case Conferences is not intended to replace the patient-physician relationship.
(Updated March 2011)
