WIHI - A Podcast from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Date: January 26, 2012 Featuring: Ellen Goodman, Columnist, Author, founding member of The Conversation Project Ira Byock, MD, Professor, Dartmouth Medical School; Director of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Bernard “Bud” Hammes, PhD, Director, Medical Humanities and Respecting Choices®, Gundersen Health System Martha Hayward, Lead for Public and Patient Engagement, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Most of us, if asked, say we care a great deal about will happen to us when we’re at the end of our lives. And yet, because we’d also rather focus on just about anything but death and dying, especially if we’re young and healthy or aging well, we’re all vulnerable to what can transpire by default: spending our last few days in an ICU, even if that’s at odds with our needs and preferences. The reasons for this disconnect are complex but often stem from the fact that individual and family decisions come late, are hashed out during a crisis, and in the very setting — a hospital — th