With Patients Until the End (with Dr. Mimi Dunne)

The Doctor's Art

Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Medicine, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Philosophy

5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One aspect of the medical profession that doesn’t often garner a great deal of public attention is that of caring for patients who are dying. For Dr. Mimi Dunne, the relief of suffering has been her life’s calling — specifically the mission of relieving mental and social suffering in the lives of terminal patients, and helping them and their families find solace and meaning as they face mortality. This week, we ask Dr. Dunne to share insights and lessons from her experience in palliative care.

In this episode, you will hear about:

What palliative care entails and what kinds of physicians specialize in it- 02:06
Dr. Dunne’s path from emergency care to palliative medicine - 3:36
Common misconceptions about palliative care - 7:43
Stories of a pivotal patient case that illuminates Dr. Dunne’s career - 11:33
What it is like to accompany patients at their end of life - 15:59
A discussion of Narrative Medicine and storytelling - 23:44
A discussion of the Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware - 29:29

Works, Organizations, and Individuals Discussed:

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

The Center to Advance Palliative Care

Dr. Diane Meier, professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Bill Moyer’s PBS docu-series Healing in the Mind

Dr. Laura Carstensen of the Stanford Center on Longevity

Dr. Ira Byock’s work on Developmental Tasks of the End of Life

Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness by Dr. Rita Charon

Professor Dan McAdams’ work on Narrative Identity

The Top Five Regrets of the Dyingby Bronnie Ware

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.
0:09.8	Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered, what makes medicine meaningful?
0:15.1	Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors?
0:18.7	How can we build healthcare institutions that nurture the doctor-patient connection?
0:23.0	What can we learn about the human condition from accompanying our patients in times of suffering?
0:27.9	In seeking answers to these questions, we meet with deep thinkers working across healthcare,
0:32.9	from doctors and nurses to patients and healthcare executives, those who have collected a career's worth of harder and wisdom.
0:40.0	Proving the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear stories that are by turns heartbreaking, amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.
0:49.0	We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do.
0:52.6	Join us as we think out loud about what illness and healing can teach us about some of life's biggest questions.
1:03.4	Our guest on today's episode is Dr. Mimi Dunn, a pioneer in palliative medicine and end of life care in New York State,
1:10.0	who's engaged in innovation to address suffering and improve the care of the dying.
1:14.2	A graduate of St. Louis University School of Medicine,
1:17.1	Mimi completed her postgraduate education at the University of Chicago and trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction at the University of Massachusetts.
1:25.2	She's board certified in emergency medicine, as well as hospice and palliative medicine.
1:30.4	As medical director of Hudson Valley hospice, Mimi founded the region's first palliative care program.
1:36.1	Mimi has authored numerous articles and book chapters on emergency medicine, palliative medicine, and global health.
1:42.5	And is an advisor to the African Center for Research in End of Life Care in Rwanda,
1:47.4	and Boulinmo Health Care in Uganda.
1:50.4	Most recently, Mimi was a fellow at Stanford University's Distinguished Careers Institute,
	...

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