Physician greets older male patient. Physician greets patient’s adult daughter. Physician asks about patient’s conditions. Physician asks for daughter’s input. Physician does physical examination. Physician makes recommendations and writes scripts. Physician asks patient and daughter if they have questions. A very normal-sounding outpatient medical visit, right? What could possibly be wrong with this picture? For […]
As befits his majestic name, Brian Duke threw down the gauntlet. “If you really want to help health systems do a better job of supporting family caregivers,” said the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and the current System Director of Senior Services for Main Line Health in suburban Philadelphia, “then you better […]
Around the long mahogany board room table, the 40 middle-age nurse and social work care managers of this large Medicare ACO regarded me with a mixture of inquisitive and impassive looks. I was supposed to deliver the good news on how strategies for supporting family caregivers are becoming more sophisticated. I started off by asking […]
During the 24 years I worked as a psychologist in family medicine, I heard many complaints about patients’ family members gumming up the healthcare system in various ways. For instance: “My patient’s wife keeps asking me to do things I can’t do—like arrange for her husband to live elsewhere—and taking up my time with frequent […]
