I Learned About A Lot

Our Reluctance To Honestly Examine The Experience Of Aging And Dying Has Increased The Harm We Inflict On People And Denied Them The Basic Comforts They Most Need.

Don’t Let Yourself Be. Find Something New To Try, Something To Change. Count How Often It Succeeds And How Often It Doesn’t. Write About It. Ask A Patient Or A Colleague What They Think About It. See If You Can Keep The Conversation Going.

We Yearn For Frictionless, Technological Solutions. But People Talking To People Is Still The Way Norms And Standards Change.

You Want To Ensure People Can Do It Right 99 Percent Of Time. When We Have To Fire One Of Our Surgical Trainees, It Is Never Because They Dont Have The Physical Skills But Because They Dont Have The Moral Skills - To Practise And Admit Failure.

When We, Doctors, Ask Patients What Their Priorities Are If Time Is Short, What We Do Is We Use What Is Available To Us - Whether It's Geriatric Care Or Palliative Care Or Hospice Care - To Make Sure They're Living The Kind Of Life That They Want To Live.