When people hear the word hospice, it often brings about fear and anxiety. But when the interdisciplinary services and benefits hospice provides are explained, the reaction is usually much different. In this episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow discuss the importance of patients understanding what their diagnosis means and learning about strategies and resources that they can engage with to help manage their illness.
As a society, we have a tendency to avoid talking about death and dying. But as palliative and hospice care providers, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow are exposed regularly to the end-of-life journey. In this episode, they discuss how, as doctors, they help patients come to terms and make peace with their medical circumstances. They also help listeners better understand the dying process and the physical, emotional, and spiritual components they often witness.
When someone enters palliative or hospice care, a whole new set of tools and resources become available, including bereavement care for their loved ones. In this episode, the doctors discuss how we all have a duty to be present for those who are grieving and how bereavement services help people move toward healing in their own way.
While palliative care can have a profound impact on patients, it can also be transformational for their family, friends, or others who they are close with. In this episode, the doctors discuss the unexpected blessings that come along with treating patients with the resources that palliative care provides—including the healing, closure, and meaningful connections that they have witnessed.
Advance care planning involves discussing and preparing for future decisions about medical care, and, as the doctors explain, it is all about patient autonomy. What does a patient value? How do they define their quality of life? Where do they draw the line? In this episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow dive into the importance of having these conversations with your loved ones as early as possible, acknowledging that wants and wishes can change over time based on a patient’s circumstance, age, and illness.
Can someone experience healing while not being cured of their disease? In this next episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow discuss the differences between being healed and being cured. In their experience, while someone may not be cured of their disease, they can experience healing in a variety of ways. They talk about cases that have taught them that they can’t always “fix” things and that managing and treating in meaningful ways doesn’t necessarily end with a cure.
A terminal prognosis forces people to face their mortality, which can lead to some
pretty incredible events—core memories being made, long-broken relationships being repaired, final wishes being fulfilled. In this episode, the doctors share stories from their careers that demonstrate some of the life-changing things people can experience under hospice care. Listen to witness yourself the healing power—emotionally, spiritually, or physically—that hospice can have.
With palliative care being a relatively new field of medicine, there are still many misconceptions about what this specialty provides. While it is often associated with end-of-life, it has become much more expansive. In this episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow discuss the purpose of palliative care and how treatment plans focus on a patient’s goals ultimately empowering them to make choices based on what is important and sacred to them.
What do we learn from our patients that make us better people and better doctors? In this episode, the doctors discuss patient circumstances and what these experiences have taught them. From learning to look for the gifts and miracles in even the direst of situations to making human connections to meet patients where they are, the doctors share real-life experiences that have helped shape who they are as doctors and as people.
The idea of hope is often idealistic and romanticized. For those facing a life-limiting illness, the “hope” of being cured or life returning to the way it was before a diagnosis can be discouraging. In this episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow explain how they can help people redefine hope by setting clear expectations and realistic goals for patients and their families.
When most people think of suffering, they think of it in terms of physical pain, but suffering is a much more dynamic concept. When someone is facing a life-limiting illness, the fear of inability surrounding their situation can be agonizing. Existential crises in the form of financial stress, professional struggles, or familial relationships are common. In this episode, Dr. Mulder and Dr. Beckrow walk listeners through the concept of suffering and how they work to reinforce in a patient their value and worth.
When faced with a life-limiting illness, patients and their loved ones can feel pressure to make the “right” choice or take the “right” step when, oftentimes, there isn’t one. In the next episode of Palliative Matters, the doctors use a real-life example to talk in detail about decision-making throughout the end-of-life journey and how the presence and involvement of a palliative care team helped ease the family of some of those burdens.
When a patient is faced with a life-limiting illness, both they and their support network are burdened with a number of stresses. They are forced to make many difficult decisions in circumstances with no perfect outcome. In this episode, the doctors address the importance of asking the patient what their goals and values are. What do they want to accomplish between now and the end of their life? Listen and learn how to better give the patient a voice and a choice as they face their illness.
ADDITIONAL PODCASTS & GUEST INTERVIEWS:
Dan’s Palliative Care Story
Dr. John Mulder contributes to Dan’s story on YouTube.
Just Breathe Collective Podcast: Deep Breath with John Mulder, MD: what is sacred to you in the face of life?
On March 26,2023 Michael Knox talks with Dr. John Mulder about what it means to live and how we can bring this to all people regardless of what stage of life they are in.
This Day & Age Podcast Ep 03: Quality of Life at the End of Life
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Michael Dozeman, a hospice and palliative care physician at Faith Hospice, to discuss the philosophy of these areas of care and to dispel some common misconceptions.
Hospice Explained Podcast: Interview with Dr. John Mulder–Pioneering Member of Palliative Care Specialty Part 1
This episode is part 1 of 2. On this episode Dr. Mulder explains differences in palliative and hospice, how technology can impact healthcare and the stigma of other Doctors referring to hospice or palliative care for their patients.
Hospice Explained Podcast: Interview with Dr. John Mulder–Pioneering Member of Palliative Care Specialty Part 2
This episode is part 2 of 2. This episode discusses the term Call Dr. Kevorkian, Death with Dignity, Physician assisted suicide and Physician aid in Dying.
EOLUPODCAST: Ep. 325 Palliative Care–What’s Needed Now and in the Future with John Mulder MD
Learn how palliative care can meet the healthcare needs of the future.
Physician’s Guide to Doctoring: Why is Palliative Care Underutilized? with Dr. John Mulder
We talk about how he got started in palliative care, well before it was a recognized subspecialty, how the specialty has changed, and he helps to clear up some confusion about who should be referred to palliative care. We also discussed how more palliative care referrals can improve outcomes and decrease the cost of care and what systemic changes can help.
