GeriPal

#ThisIsOurLane.  While I guess that hashtag could make you think we are going to be talking about dementia and driving, it really is a reference to a recent viral discussion on twitter about firearm safety.   It began with the NRA’s tweet in response to the American College of Physicians’ position paper on reducing firearm injuries and death, which said: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane.”


This tweet was met by a pretty immediate online reaction by many members of the medical community using the hashtags #ThisIsMyLane and #ThisIsOurLane.  The responses frequently included graphic depictions of the aftermath of firearm violence.


Well, on today's Podcast we talk with Marian (Emmy) Betz, one of the authors of a recent NEJM piece on #ThisIsOurLane and an expert on the topic of dementia and guns.  Emmy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and has written some prett…

In this week's GeriPal podcast we talk with Tim Girard, Plumonary Critical Care physician-researcher at the University of Pittsburgh about his study NEJM study of Haloperidol vs. Ziprasidone vs. Placebo for ICU delirium in critically ill patients.

When I was on service last month, the ICU team said to me, "We've just started treating Mr. X's delirium today.  We started him on haloperidol."


Haloperidol and other antipsychotics for ICU delirium are ubiquitous.  When I was on service last month, the ICU team said to me, "We've just started treating Mr. X's delirium today.  We started him on haloperidol."  In this well-done randomized double blind placebo controlled trial, Girard and his co-investigators detected no difference between the 3 drugs.  Nada.  Zip.

Eric solicited questions in advance via twitter and many are incorporated into the podcast.

Some questions we address:
-But wait, might antipsychotics work for agitated hyperactive delirium?
-…

On this weeks podcast we talk with Aanand Naik about his recent JAGS article titled "Development of a Clinically Feasible Process for Identifying Individual Health Priorities".  Aanand's many titles include Investigator, Houston Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt), Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston Texas and Acting Chief, Geriatrics Section and Associate Professor of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Aanand's research is focused on developing and testing decision-making interventions to improve the outcomes of older adults with multiple morbid conditions, or to put it more simply, how do we identify what patients care about the most (i.e their values), and what their healthcare should be about (their health outcome goals).

So take a listen and read his recent JAGS article to learn more about how to move from values to goals and preferences!

Also, check out the Patient Priorities Care website to lea…