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Originally posted on Which me am I today?:
Yesterday – Day 3 of Dementia Awareness week – found me in Doncaster for the above event. Michele Clarke, Strategy and Delivery Manager for NHS Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group had contacted me a while ago to see if I would talk about my experience of young onset…

The law of conservation of energy states that in a closed system, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Energy flows through every interaction, engagement or conversation between people; in everyday life, mostly there is a give and take, a volley of information, movement, listening and talking, acknowledgment and respect. This flow can beContinue reading “Dementia, Bruce Lee & Conservation of Energy”

I just returned from wandering with my dog. We don’t tend to describe our everyday activities, particularly those associated with movement, as wandering. I walked the dog (although clearly, at times, she walked me – but that is besides the point.) How much of our everyday movement is with purpose, intention, a plan? If thereContinue reading “Wandering & the Israelites”

My last blog described the wording used by a doctor in communicating clinical information that was shared with a patient. I want to look differently at moth-eating. I don’t remember the last time I pulled a t-shirt of jumper out of dresser to discover a hole, a nibbled gap in the fabric. Moth-eating somehow makesContinue reading “Moth-eating (2)”

I remember reading a letter written by a hospital doctor to a patient’s GP, copying-in the patient. The individual had been experiencing problems with balance and the specialist had arranged an MRI scan – which is able to look in great detail at those parts of the brain controlling balance, movement, orientation, etc. What struckContinue reading “Moth-eaten fragments (1)”

Why am I so dead-set against patients? Yes, that is a funny position for a doctor, yet it isn’t that strange – I don’t know when the idea of ‘patient’ first started, but I am sure it was in a time before modern medicine, likely when doctors, or probably, shamans were prancing about in theContinue reading “People not patients #1”

The words we use when talking about patients somehow differ from those we use when discussing everyday matters or opinions. I’m not sure why. Is it that part of this is stripping away the person so that we are left with a disease, a pathology that is somehow depersonalized and easier for us to dealContinue reading “Demented, asthmatic”

What makes some groups succeed where others have failed? When equivalent teams, cohorts or communities are exposed to similar pressures, provided the same resources, training and education, outcomes vary, and, in some instances, certain groups can produce results that so far exceed those of peers that they become deviants. Skewed away from the average. WorkContinue reading “Positively deviant”

Fortunately nothing bad happened to me, in fact, the experience was wholly positive – I was in Macclesfield for a course on Mindfulness and Leadership run by the King’s Fund (yes, the same one as the tiger). Our instructor, Byron Lee described a fascinating aspect of Mindfulness that I had somehow managed to miss whileContinue reading “I learned a little about suffering this week…”

Into a soul absolutely free From thoughts and emotion, Even the tiger finds no room To insert its fierce claws Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do. I spent two days this week on the King’s Fund Compassionate Leadership through Mindfulness Course in Macclesfield. During that time, I had the opportunity to meet some great peopleContinue reading “Into a soul absolutely free, from thoughts and emotion.”

Today, I heard about a system in Scotland to help people refer themselves to their local memory clinic. In England and probably all of the world beyond Perthshire, the system is that people wait until their memory, emotional or cognitive decline has deteriorated to an extent that they can no longer ignore or avoid theContinue reading “Person-centred care & Perthshire”

In the rapid-paced landscape of a hospital ward, multitudes rush hither and tither doing their best to provide great care or treatment. Hierarchies, built upon historical, organisational and traditional structures dominate. Usually, the doctors are on top. If someone isn’t going to wash their hands or apply the alcohol gel, you can bet, it is usuallyContinue reading “We don’t talk… any more”

This isn’t really ‘part 2’ – I just felt the need to write more about part 1; When thinking of birds in trees, particularly, for some reason, during the autumn, or perhaps even the winter, I think back to my literature lessons in school. The poet, Chaim Nachman Bialik, one of the pioneers of modernContinue reading “MBTI, Starsky & Hutch and the world is my idea (part 2)”

Schopenhauer said, ‘The world is my idea’ – as to what he meant by this I am not altogether certain. I think he was getting at something to do with perception, the world is how I see it, just as yours is as you see it. Most of the time, people seem to be ableContinue reading “MBTI, Starsky & Hutch and the world is my idea (part 1)”

Scipio was a Roman general who amongst other achievements defeated Hannibal at the battle of Zama. I have shown the painting by Karel van Mander to medical students over the years to explain the meaning of ‘continence’ – it is one of those things that I know I shouldn’t have done – the connection isContinue reading “The Continence of Scipio”

Recently, looking into the benefits of Mindfulness to support staff working on my ward, I became aware of the importance of the Amygdala. The Amygdala is part of our ‘primitive brain’, sometimes called the lizard brain as phylogenetically it is part of us that has been present throughout our evolution; it is responsible for controllingContinue reading “Why Almonds?”

It is easy to forget how much medicalese and jargon exists within the world of health and social care. As to what stops us speaking English, either to each other or more relevantly to patients, clients and carers, I am not sure – I suspect that most of the time we aren’t aware we areContinue reading “Asymptomatic bacteruria and Bear Grylls”

So… here I am, planning a presentation to the hospital tomorrow on dementia; I have added ‘delirium’ to the title as for me the two conditions are synonymous – people living with dementia have a ten-fold greater risk of experiencing delirium than others… Where to I begin? I start with Wendy Mitchell – she hasContinue reading “Is my husband OK?”

When you search ‘delirium’ on Google images you find lots of pictures to do with delirium tremens – the clinical syndrome associated with alcohol withdrawal; while this is delirium in one sense, it is not the one I am discussing – The usual textbook definition for delirium is a fluctuating state of consciousness developing overContinue reading “So, what is delirium?”

So, what do we do when a person, say a ninety-year-old woman is climbing on a window ledge, at risk of falling, or hitting you with a telephone or pouring water over your PC? What do you do when you have tried to talk, tried to communicate as best you are able? This is whenContinue reading “The Tao of Dementia & Delirium (part 2)”

‘Do not prescribe anti-psychotics!’ I usually include this phrase when inducting new doctors into my department. In recent years there has been a great deal of discussion about the potential harms of anti-psychotic medications, when used inappropriately to sedate or tranquillise people who are either living with dementia or experiencing delirium. The old standard, inContinue reading “The Tao of Dementia & Delirium (part 1)”

In April I attended the BMJ/IHI Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in London. Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO of the IHI was one of the main speakers. Maureen discussed an area of healthcare we haven’t been fantastic at improving in recent years; funnily enough, she didn’t talk about innovation, but exinnovation – thisContinue reading “Healthcare Improvement and Bruce Lee”