Tag Archives: University of Michigan

March 2, 2016 · 9:00 am

[Cancer Knowledge Network] Pediatric Palliative Care: A Multidisciplinary Approach

This article is also available at the Cancer Knowledge Network.

I have to admit—one of the first reasons that palliative care first piqued my interest was because I wanted to learn more about death. But as I’ve delved deeper into palliative care, I’ve come to realize just how much more comprehensive it is. While increasing access to hospice care is a component of what palliative care provides, palliative care does so much more for patients and families.

When I first started volunteering with patients at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, pediatric oncology jolted me to see how cancer can affect all humans, even kids. But the realization that terminally ill children face the unknown prospect of death every day was most jarring to me. Death was no longer an abstract fate for the elderly but rather a real concern for the babies I held, the kids I spent time with on Friday evenings.

As a teenager myself, it was especially hard to see other teens having to go through the experiences of being diagnosed and treated for a life-threatening disease like cancer. I became interested in how people of all ages, and especially children, understand and cope with death. I found that palliative care does not shy away from these end-of-life topics but rather starts many of these difficult conversations. Similarly, palliative care provides additional support by devoting attention to the pain that patients may be experiencing as well as the discomfort from symptoms and side effects.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that ideally, palliative care should begin (or at least be offered) when a child is first diagnosed with a life-threatening disease[1]. Pediatric palliative care aims to support young patients and their families throughout the entire experience of illness, from diagnosis to treatment, remission to relapse, and even end-of-life when applicable.

For kids undergoing treatment for cancer, imprisonment by IV pole and pain by poke may be what they know. Many have no choice but to curl into the humbling fetal position for spinal taps. These children hold on to the simple pleasures in their lives by putting a port on a teddy bear or playing with a Barbie doll that has no hair. Each child finds a different way to cope, and I have grown to admire these children. Pediatric Palliative Care, along with other health disciplines such as Child Life, provide additional support to help children cope with a cancer diagnosis and the difficult treatments that it entails.

We’ve come a long way in treating pediatric cancer over the past several decades, but it’s not enough to stop the uncontrollable growth of cancer cells without recognizing the psychological scars left behind by its presence. Cancer treatments can have life-long health consequences, and the support of pediatric palliative care involvement throughout the course of treatment has the potential to have a lasting impact on patients.

This, to me, is what pediatric palliative care is about. Pediatric palliative care is about ensuring that young patients have the best of quality of life that they can while experiencing life-threatening illness and its corresponding medical interventions. It is about devoting special attention to more than a child’s physical health but also their mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. As a multidisciplinary team generally composed of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and chaplains, pediatric palliative care is able to support children as well as their siblings and parents more holistically.

Palliative care, especially in the pediatric world, encompasses end-of-life and much more. As the AAP states, “Reserving palliative care for children who have exhausted every curative treatment and are dying would mean that many other children would miss out on the benefits that palliative care can offer.” It has been encouraging to see how much pediatric palliative care has become established and valued over the past several years, and I look forward to getting involved in the field in the future.

 

[1] http://www2.aap.org/sections/palliative/whatispalliativecare.html

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January 13, 2016 · 9:00 am

[Cancer Knowledge Network] Discovering a Passion for Pediatric Palliative Care

This article is also available at the Cancer Knowledge Network.

As someone who loves spending time with kids, I was thrilled when I was placed to volunteer on the 7th floor pediatric oncology inpatient playroom at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Although I was just in high school, I had an early interest in becoming a pediatrician, and Mott seemed like the perfect place for me to learn more.

From talking to teens at their bedside to playing video games or doing arts and crafts with kids, I enjoyed every minute I spent with patients and their families. These activities meant so much more to me as I began to see how integral they were to sustaining children through cancer. These children endure levels of pain that seem unthinkable at such a young age, and I helped them find distractions in board games and plastic food.

With the backdrop of illness, these normal activities were never quite the same. One minute, I was racing trains with a 2 year old. The next, I was gripping his tiny arms and legs to help his nurse draw blood. He put his entire body into his scream, thrashing wildly. But as I held him afterwards, his peaceful demeanor made me realize that I made a difference.

As I spent time with siblings and parents, I witnessed the many ways that cancer permeates the lives of loved ones. As a volunteer, I supported them in any way that I could. I came to believe that talking with kids and families, letting them engage in conversation, to get their mind off things if they so choose or voice their concerns, unleashes the therapeutic nature of the spoken word. From the weather to a child’s prognosis, these conversations illuminated different perspectives of how cancer affects lives. My experiences with these young patients and their families largely contributed to my own desires to devote myself to medicine.

When I started medical school a little over a year ago, I would tell people that I was interested in becoming a pediatric oncologist. Even then, I knew that my interests may change throughout the course of my medical training, but I also knew that this is where my heart was and where it still is, at least for now. Within just a few months, I found myself slowly gravitating towards another discipline that also works closely with children with cancer: the field of palliative care.

Palliative Care aims to improve the quality of life for patients and families, often by alleviating symptom burden, providing pain management, helping with decision-making, and furthering communication about goals of care.[1] Palliative care aligns with many of the aspects of volunteering that were most rewarding for me, as well as my own philosophies about how I hope to practice medicine. From striving to alleviate pain and relieve the suffering that patients experience throughout the course of treatment to engaging in important and intimate conversations with patients and family members about experiences with illness, palliative care prioritizes aspects of medicine that most move me.

Often, these quality of life measures are goals of medicine in general, but to have an entire medical specialty devoted to these important issues has the potential to greatly impact patients, especially those in need. The baby who won’t stop crying from the pain, the teenager who may have wishes that deviate from those of caregivers, the parents who are deciding whether a clinical trial is right for their child—there is no question that cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery can present a series of uncertainties, challenging decisions, unimaginable pain, and life-long symptoms and side effects.

I hope that palliative care training will help me to develop my skills and make a difference in the quality of life experienced by children with cancer. By specializing in both pediatric hematology/oncology as well as in pediatric palliative care, I believe that I will be able to develop a more comprehensive knowledge base and gain experiences to ensure that both perspectives will always inform my care. Palliative care embodies the kind of care that I hope to be able to provide for my own patients and their families some day.

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January 11, 2016 · 9:00 am

[AMA JOE From the Editor] “Nothing About Us Without Us”: Toward Patient- and Family-Centered Care

This article, excerpted here, is available in its entirety at the AMA Journal of Ethics. 

Around dinnertime on the second Tuesday of every month, a group of people gather in the Family Center at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Some are former patients, some are staff, and most are parents of pediatric patients, some of whom are deceased. They have been invited to share their perspectives and to help improve administrative decision making and care delivery.

I was first introduced to the concept patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) by this patient- and family advisory council (PFAC), an advisory body that promotes the inclusion of patient and family member perspectives in making organizational and practice decisions. As a student member over the past year, I’ve observed the dedication of these council members to improving health care culture by promoting PFCC values.

PFCC is built upon four fundamental principles: treating patients and families with respect and dignity, sharing information, encouraging their participation in care and decision making, and fostering collaboration in care delivery and program design, implementation, and evaluation [1]. At its core, PFCC is about including patients and families in all aspects of health care.

As part of a broader movement towards participatory medicine that advocates for collaborative partnerships in health care [2], PFCC means developing partnerships with patients and their families; recognizing their expertise by involving them as members of clinical care teams, advisory committees, and regulatory research boards; and promoting inclusion of patients and their loved ones in bedside and systems-level health care dialogues. Physicians can learn from patients and their families, and it is our responsibility to do so.

I first became interested in better understanding patients’ perspectives as an English major exploring disability studies and narrative medicine; I sought to understand persons’ health care experiences through their narratives. PFCC models of thinking encouraged me to broaden my scope and to appreciate the interconnectedness of patients’ and family members’ experiences. Although PFCC originated in pediatrics, the importance of families extends to all medical practice [3].

As I learned more about the tenets of PFCC and the many forms that PFCC takes in practice, I began to wonder about when and how striving to deliver inclusive care can be ethically complex. How should medicine accommodate families alongside patients, and what ethical challenges arise when trying to do so? Accordingly, this theme issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics considers some of the ethical challenges of implementing PFCC. In an attempt to make this issue as “patient- and family-centered” as possible, I invited feedback from the Mott PFAC and included patients and family members as authors…

 

Read the rest of this article at the AMA Journal of Ethics.

 

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September 26, 2015 · 10:01 am

Returning to where it all began- WMU Medical Humanities Conference 2015

It’s strange to think that I attended and presented at my first conference two years ago to date; I have fond memories of that WMU Medical Humanities Conference as being one of my best presentations yet. This year, I was excited to return to talk about my illness narrative class, Grand Rounds: Exploring the Literary Symptoms of Illness through Narrative, and to discuss the role of illness narratives in pre-health education.

I love medical school, don’t get me wrong, but I miss this. It was so refreshing to have a conversation with humanities enthusiasts about the great educational impact of illness narratives, both from literary and medical perspectives and when considered at various stages in one’s career. It’s been a while since I’ve been so immersed in dialogue about illness narratives, so I enjoyed delving back into it and reflecting on how they’ve got me to where I am today.

It was nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd and to have a diverse group of people, most from humanities backgrounds but everyone with some interest in illness narratives and/or medical education. I decided to structure the session as an interactive discussion since I had more time, which was a bit unconventional at this lecture-based conference. But I think that as a group, we were able to further develop many of our personal thoughts and ideas regarding illness narratives as well as engage and interact with each other more, which I know that I found to be a rewarding and illuminating experience.

WMU lesson plan-Introducing Illness Narratives in Pre-Health Education

WMU Medical Humanities- Grand Rounds

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September 8, 2015 · 10:00 am

A noon conference for pediatrics residents with Chronicling Childhood Cancer authors

Perhaps it was the ambience of a brightly lit conference room overlooking downtown Ann Arbor. Maybe it was the audience of pediatrics residents at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, doctors devoting their lives to caring for children. Or it may have been this event’s focus on teens sharing their own advice for doctors based on their personal experiences. Whatever it was, something was very different about the Pediatrics Noon Conference that I led about the Chronicling Childhood Cancer book project from last year’s Literati book reading/signing event.

A couple months ago, I learned that residents hardly have an opportunity to interact with pediatric patients and their families outside of clinic visits. I was surprised–while medical school is peppered with patient presentations and opportunities to learn more from patients about their experiences, it seems as though these opportunities drop off in residency since residents have patients of their own.

That was unsettling to me, though. Especially with pediatric patients, I think that giving teens and young adults the chance to share their own experiences and perspectives can be invaluable, both for these youth as well as for people who are devoting their lives to caring for these individuals. It’s also a reminder of what it means to embrace PFCC, or patient- and family-centered care: the recognition that we as clinicians must view our patients as partners in their healthcare, and in doing so, acknowledge how much we can learn from our patients. Events such as these demonstrate that there are an infinite number of ways that we can improve and better care for our patients by hearing what they have to say.

At this event, I gave a brief overview of the research project before turning it over to three of the young authors themselves. Each individual shared some of their personal experiences and advice for doctors about just how much of an impact their interactions can have on patients. While the discussion was centered largely on the teens, their parents also contributed some insight. Overall, this was a change from the typical noon conference lecture, and it sounds like many appreciated what this unique noon conference had to offer.

I was more anxious preparing for this event than I have been in a while, and I think it’s because I’m more aware of how precious time in medical education can be. I know how much people fight over this time to make an impression on doctors in the making. It truly is incredible to me that I have had this opportunity; it’s crazy to think that I have been a part of their education, that I may have been able to influence the kind of physician that some of these residents may be with their patients.

One of the highlights for me was the very end. A number of people had to leave immediately since the event concluded right at 1pm, but I was amazed by how many people still chose to stick around and speak at length with each of these patients and their families. That meant so much to me, and I know that it meant a lot to the young authors. Instead of just getting their books signed and leaving, these residents took the time to connect with the teens and their parents. In the end, I know that this was the point of it all: to give residents a chance to get to know and learn from teens with cancer in a different way, and to make space for teens to share their personal experiences.

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Pediatric Noon Conference- Outline

Pediatrics Noon Conference- Slides

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August 31, 2015 · 9:00 am

Childhood Cancer Awareness: September is just the beginning

Every year, I am energized by the month of September. There’s something about Childhood Cancer Awareness Month that brings me back to the Friday evenings that I’ve spent with pediatric oncology patients and their families over the years. I am reminded of the time I devoted to getting to know these children and teens through my research; I have been so moved by these children, teens, and families. This month reawakens in me my desire to raise awareness of childhood cancer, namely by helping to spread the word about the Chronicling Childhood Cancer book.

It takes an incredible amount of courage and strength to do what these young authors, these children and teens, have done– to share their personal experiences with cancer. That’s why I want these stories to be heard by as many people as will listen. I believe that the Chronicling Childhood Cancer book really is unique and compelling, that anyone and everyone can learn something from it. I guess that’s why I’m so motivated to share these stories and shamelessly promote the book.

I’ve blogged extensively (and perhaps annoyingly) about the book, but here’s the rundown:

UnknownChronicling Childhood Cancer: A Collection of Personal Stories by Children and Teens with Cancer is a book that was created from a project that I started with C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital patients for my Honors thesis in English. All of the proceeds of this book are donated to Mott: 50% to the Block Out Cancer campaign for pediatric cancer research at the University of Michigan and 50% to the Child and Family Life Program at Mott.

This month, I’ll be sharing daily excerpts from the book via Twitter to raise awareness about childhood cancer. It feels strange to be taking these quotes out of context and into the 135-character tweets, but my hope is that this is a way for me to make them more accessible to a larger audience. To offer a sneak preview of sorts, into the Chronicling Childhood Cancer book as well as into the personal lives of these young children and teens with cancer.

While September gives me momentum, I know that this one month is not enough for this important cause. So much has to happen, and to pretend as though one month were enough time to raise ‘enough’ awareness (if there even were such a thing) is absurd. So stay tuned for more about what I have planned for this year!

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April 13, 2015 · 12:00 pm

An iBook! Chronicling Childhood Cancer now available for download

If you walk through the infusion clinic at Mott Children’s Hospital, you’ll notice a lot of patients have one thing in their hands: iPads! That’s why I’m excited to announce that Chronicling Childhood Cancer has now been released as an iBook, available for download on any iPad or Mac laptop.

With how widespread iPads are becoming for patients these days, I hope that these new version of the book will be more accessible and able to reach a broader audience. At the very least, I want this book to be available to patients and their families waiting in hospitals who may be interested in perusing it. And as always, all proceeds are donated: 50% benefitting the Block Out Cancer campaign for pediatric cancer research at the University of Michigan, and 50% benefitting the Child and Family Life Program at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

It continues to amaze me how much this project just keeps on growing. A special thanks to Learning Design and Publishing at the University of Michigan Medical School for making this all happen, from the hard copy to the electronic version. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

 

Chronicling Childhood Cancer on iTunes

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April 9, 2015 · 11:00 am

1 Week till The Examined Life: Writing, Humanities, and the Art of Medicine

“There is art to medicine as well as science.” -Hippocratic Oath

I find myself thinking about this quote a lot throughout medical school. It reminds me of what initially fascinated me about medicine. While following the pre-medical track lends itself to a scientific foundation for medicine, my non-traditional experiences illuminated the art of medicine to me.

Last year, I found my place at The Examined Life: Writing, Humanities, and the Art of Medicine conference. I was excited to be surrounded by so many other people interested and actively working at the intersections of literature and medicine. These are people who are passionate about all things related to healing and medicine, reading and writing, learning and educating. And I am thrilled to have the opportunity to attend this conference once again, one week from today.

Last year, around this time, I was teaching a mini-course called Grand Rounds: Exploring the Literary Symptoms of Illness through Narrative. This year, I will be leading a discussion forum about this course and about what implications it may have for the use of illness narratives in pre-health education. As I’ve been preparing for our session and sifting through course materials and relevant scholarship, I’m reminded of how much I miss teaching. It won’t be quite the same as leading one of my discussion classes, but I’m really looking forward to the conversations to come.

As a flashback to last year’s presentation: I will also have hard copies of Chronicling Childhood Cancer: A Collection of Personal Stories by Children and Teens with Cancer available for sale this year!
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October 20, 2014 · 11:00 am

[Inside Stories] Trisha

Although I’ve personally been drawn to the stories of people with illness and disability, I also realize that stories in medicine arise from both sides of health care. Albeit it was admittedly strange (given that I am used to being a listener to these stories), I was excited to have the opportunity to tell my own story about my experiences as a medical student and someday health professional.

Inside Stories is an oral narratives project which invites medical students to share their experiences in medical school in the form of brief podcasts published and archived on in-Training, an online medical student community.  The curator of these stories, Annie Robinson, makes space for medical students across the country to share experiences that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to share. Moreover, it seems to me as though these stories can serve a similar function as do many online illness narratives by bridging together medical students. These exemplify how stories can be used to create a community, to connect different people who may be going through similar situations in their medical training.

Take a listen! My story about medicine and about my childhood cancer narrative research.

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October 13, 2014 · 11:00 am

Thinking about the Chronicling Childhood Cancer book reading/signing event… Still

I have to apologize for the blog silence. Sometimes life gets in the way of things, no matter how important they may be to me.

Three weeks ago, it was my pleasure to hold a book reading/signing event for the recently published book Chronicling Childhood Cancer: A Collection of Personal Stories by Children and Teens with Cancer. I had approached Literati Bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor on a whim, thinking that if there was any bookstore who may support this local book publication of stories by youth with childhood cancer, it was them.

Before I had even finished telling them the whole story, they had said “of course.” They kindly invited me to host an event to launch the book, to get the word out about it and raise more awareness about the cause of childhood cancer. They were so supportive about this project that they even wanted to donate 100% of the book sales from the event: as with the book, 50% of the donations would go to the Block Out Cancer campaign for pediatric cancer research at the University of Michigan and 50% to the Child and Family Life Program at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

I tossed around a number of ideas about what to do for the event, ultimately deciding that it would be best to let the children share their stories themselves. After I contacted all the young authors, we were fortunate enough to have three join us at the event (one other author realized that he had too much math homework that day, but I reassured him that was entirely valid and it made me smile to hear that school was his excuse).

It’s hard for me to summarize what happened that night. So hard that it’s taken me weeks to find the words to write about it (somewhat) coherently. The event as a whole moved me more than I had ever anticipated.

I had certainly been nervous about the event because of how sensitive this topic of childhood cancer is. I think that in the back of my mind I feared what could happen all along and how emotional the experience of sharing their stories could be for the authors of this collection. But in reality, I hadn’t mentally prepared for it.

By its very nature, the book reading was an emotional experience for the young authors as well as the audience. It was not easy for me to watch as these teens stood under bright lights in front of a room full of people, overcome by emotion as they shared their personal and very intimate experiences with cancer. I was struck by their determination and persistence to tell their tales- it was just one example of what courage in the face of cancer looks like.

After the event, each of the authors thoroughly enjoyed signing copies of the book. Even though the event had clearly not been easy for anyone, they were all eager and excited about the prospects of doing another book reading/singing event and maybe even meeting some of the other authors.

As far as this project has come, I’ve realized that I’m not done with it now, and I probably won’t ever be. There’s just so much more that I want to do to share what these children and teens have shared with me, and I’m as determined as ever to make the most of all that this project has taught me. But I also know that I need time, and that’s ok.

To this day, I am struck by just how much this event moved me. The standing-room-only audience of friends and family, health practitioners and local strangers. The kind words of appreciation expressed by these young authors and their parents. The knowledge that all that I have put in to this research, this book, and this event has touched these teens more than I had ever realized. It was overwhelming, in the best way possible.

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Literati book reading signing event- Event Plan

Literati book reading signing event- Research Overview

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