Grief, Loss, and a Brighter Path Forward (with Dr. Stephanie Harman)

The Doctor's Art

Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Medicine, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Philosophy

5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2022

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the founding medical director of Palliative Care Services at Stanford Hospital, Dr. Stephanie Harman is no stranger to death and grief. In this episode, she shares the story of how she discovered palliative care through the death of someone close and what it looks like to transform what are often the moments of greatest patient suffering into moments of profound meaning and humanism. In addition to her palliative care work, Dr. Harman is a clinical associate professor of medicine, a co-chair of the Stanford Health Care Ethics Committee, and Associate Chair for the Women in Medicine initiative in Stanford’s Department of Medicine.

In this episode, you will hear about:

How PBS, zebrafish, and comparative literature influenced Dr. Harman’s decision to enter medicine - 3:08
How the death of someone close propelled Dr. Harman into palliative care and informs her philosophical focus on honoring a patient’s values and wishes - 8:09
Why Dr. Harman felt drawn to a medical specialty that so often deals with the most painful part of medicine: witnessing patients dying - 15:53
How Dr. Harman had to advocate for the legitimacy and dignity of palliative medicine, despite being told it was “a waste of her career” - 19:18
How Dr. Harman processes the emotional weight of her chosen field with preventive and supportive measures - 22:20
A discussion of how the COVID-19 pandemic has forced public and personal conversations about grief to the forefront - 27:24
Dr. Harman’s vision for the future of medicine, and specifically the broader adoption of palliative care services - 33:33
Dr. Harman’s advice to new medical professionals and students - 38:49

You can follow Dr. Harman on Twitter @Steph_HarmanMD

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Henry Bear.
0:03.4	And I'm Tyler Johnson.
0:04.8	And you're listening to the Doctors' Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine.
0:09.9	Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered, what makes medicine meaningful?
0:15.2	Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors?
0:18.8	How can we build healthcare institutions that nurture the doctor-patient connection?
0:23.1	What can we learn about the human condition from accompanying our patients in times of suffering?
0:28.0	In seeking answers to these questions, we meet with deep thinkers working across healthcare,
0:33.1	from doctors and nurses to patients and healthcare executives, those who have collected a career's worth of harder and wisdom.
0:40.2	Proving the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear stories that are by turns heartbreaking,
0:45.6	amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.
0:49.3	We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do.
0:52.9	Join us as we think out loud about what illness and healing can teach us about some of life's biggest questions.
1:03.9	Our guest today is Dr. Steph Harmon, founding medical director of the palliative care service at Stanford Hospital,
1:10.4	and co-chair of the Stanford Health Care Ethics Committee.
1:13.7	Dr. Harmon is passionate about teaching and researching how doctors communicate with patients,
1:18.8	especially in the context of serious illness, as well as bioethical issues at the end of life.
1:24.4	In addition to her work in palliative care, she's associate chair for the Woman in Medicine Initiative
1:29.9	in Stanford's Department of Medicine.
1:32.4	In this episode, Dr. Harmon will share with us how her early experiences with death drew her to a career of caring for dying individuals,
1:40.7	how she manages grief with patients, and her vision for improving the quality of life of patients everywhere.
1:47.8	We will be talking a lot about palliative care today, even though we have featured palliative care doctors on this program before.
	...

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