Pediatric Perspectives on Palliative Care in the Neurocritical Care Unit.

Pediatric neurocritical care teams care for patients and families facing the potential for significant neurologic impairment and high mortality. Such admissions are often marked by significant prognostic uncertainty, high levels of parental emotional overload, and multiple potentially life-altering decision points. In addition to clinical acumen, families desire clear and consistent communication, supported decision-making, a multidisciplinary approach to psychosocial supports throughout an admission, and comprehensive bereavement support after a death.

Mindful practice with medical interpreters.

Introduction: Medical interpreters experience emotional burdens from the complex demands at work. Because communication access is a social determinant of health, protecting and promoting the health of medical interpreters is critical for ensuring equitable access to care for language-minority patients. The purpose of this study was to pilot a condensed 8-h program based on Mindful Practice in Medicine addressing the contributors to distress and psychosocial stressors faced by medical sign and spoken language interpreters.

Pediatric neuropalliative care.

Pediatric palliative care seeks to support quality of life for children and families affected by serious illness. Children with neurological disease are among the most frequent recipients of pediatric palliative care. Several important elements distinguish pediatric palliative care from adult practice, including a longer illness duration, longitudinal relationships over the span of years, diseases characterized by chronic fragility rather than progressive pathology, and the reliance on parents as proxy decision makers.

Wellness Gone Awry: How Helpful Hints Might Be Harmful.

Physician burnout is increasingly recognized as a crisis across health care systems, with Wellness committees and Wellness officers becoming commonplace in large institutions. Unfortunately, these well-intended bodies often propagate the message that individuals are responsible for solving their own burnout, minimizing the importance of institutional responsibility in the problem. This essay explores the parallels between current Wellness initiatives and the petrochemical industry, specifically focusing on their messaging efforts and the role of implied blame and subsequent felt shame.