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Fading Out: Aging and Beyond RSS feed

Decluttering advice from some 'experts'

One day my friend Steve and I went to Ikea to buy a bookcase, so I could get a couple hundred books off the floor. A few hours later (!!!) Ikea delivered three long boxes of parts. I forgot the boxes were there and tripped over them on my way to the  Read More 
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The anatomy of medical error

“Humans err,” said Dr. Saul N. Weingart, director of the Center for Patient Safety at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in a sweeping analysis of medical error, in a Grand Rounds lecture for NIH fellows in the Clinical Center in 2006. Cognitive psychologists recognize three models of error in human performance; skill-based, rule-based, and knowledge-based. Human factor scientists call skill-based errors slips and rule-based and knowledge-based errors mistakes. Read More 
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The NIH Clinical Center: A national healthcare treasure

by Pat McNees

A couple of miles down Rockville Pike, south from the Beltway (495), on the right, sit the 27 centers and institutes that form the main campus of the National Institutes of Health. (Across from them on the left is the National Naval Medical Center.) Turn right  Read More 
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Nine great TED talks on improving health care

I've just listened to nine great TED talks and read a few companion articles on improving health care and health care outcomes. Check out these speakers: Atul Gawande, Ben Goldacre, Rebecca Onie, Brian Goldman, Ernest Madu, Peter Saul, Eric Dishman, Thomas Goetz. They are talking about improving health care--in particular about ways in which poor people have access to good health--not about changing our approach to health insurance. Click on the titles to get to the TED talks.

Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine? Read More 
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How Storytelling Is Changing the Way Doctors Treat Illness

(Updated 6-10-19)

"Sayantani DasGupta, MD, who teaches narrative medicine at Columbia University, says the key to sharing your health history is thinking of it as a story," wrote Abigail Rasminsky in Oprah. "Choose the turning points that you want to highlight—the ups and downs you've experienced over time," says DasGupta, a pediatrician who teaches narrative medicine at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College. "Who are the main characters? A supportive partner? An unsupportive boss? Mention the dramatic tensions. You might be concerned about meeting work deadlines, or caring for a sick parent. These details will help your doctor treat your illness in the context of your life. Finally, spill Read More 

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Is scanning family photos part of your in-case-of-fire plan?

Kathleen Hughes' daughter, Isabel, 15, was home alone when fire raged through the neighborhood. Neighbors were packing and getting out. What should she pack? Here's what Hughes would say now: "Quick, get the 32 boxes of photographs and the 39 photo albums from my bedroom bookcases. Then grab the four cardboard boxes of family papers that are down in storage Read More 
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Three cases for better management of dying

Three recent articles (by Michael Wolff, Joe Klein, and Sandra Tsing Loh) shed light on what it's like to be a caregiver for an elderly parent in today's U.S. health care system. Wolff's piece, A Life Worth Ending, searingly articulates the need for a support system that facilitates dying peacefully and without agony, instead of a system full of incentives for unnecessary medical interventions  Read More 
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Putting on the Ritz, Moscow flash mob-style

Show this to elders (and youngers) who love a good song and dance. See if this doesn't put a smile on their face.



I agree with Mary Hodge, who Read More 
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Why we love Guided Autobiography (GAB) groups

Lisa Smith-Youngs put together this video of voices from her GAB groups. Most of us who teach life writing workshops (GAB or otherwise) hear similar accounts, which is why leading these groups is such a joy -- for both leaders and participants.

Why participants love GAB groups

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When you die, who owns your online legacy?

Several U.S. states are considering legislation that would give personal representatives legal possession of Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, and other online information after a death, reports BBC News (Living online after death faces Nebraska legal battle, 1-3-12 -- do watch the BBC video). “But privacy experts and lawyers  Read More 
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