Dr. Anne Mosenthal: The Mother of Surgical Palliative Care

07/27/20 • 36 min

#015 - Join host Dr. Red Hoffman as she interviews Dr. Anne Mosenthal, a trauma surgeon and one of the founding members of the American College of Surgeon's Surgical Palliative Care Task Force (now the Committee on Surgical Palliative Care, which she currently chairs). Her name is synonymous with surgical palliative care in this country. Anne, along with nurse Pat Murphy, wrote some of the earliest papers about how to incorporate palliative care into the surgical and trauma intensive care units. She championed the integrative model of palliative care, which relies upon the surgical team to utilize their primary palliative care skills. She is the co-editor (along with Dr. Geoffrey Dunn) of the recently released textbook entitled Surgical Palliative. Anne served as the Chair of Surgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical Center for nine years (one of the first women in the country to chair a department of surgery) and recently transitioned into a new role as the Chief Academic Officer of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. In this episode, she shares her experience as a woman pursuing a career in surgery and notes the lack of female role models during her training. She has been a champion for women in surgery, serving as a mentor to many and eventually winning the Association of Women Surgeon's Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member Award in 2018. She also shares some tips about how to break bad news and how to discuss code status. Lastly, she very graciously accepts all of my fan-girling! As I tell her, many of us would not have the careers that we do if it were not for her leading the way. Listen and learn from one of the very best!

Articles mentioned:
Trauma Care and Palliative Care: Time to Integrate the Two? (2003)
Interdisciplinary model for palliative care in the trauma and surgical intensive care unit: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Demonstration Project for Improving Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit (2006)
Integrating palliative care in the surgical and trauma intensive care unit: a report from the Improving Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit (IPAL-ICU) Project Advisory Board and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (2012)
To read more about or purchase the recently released Surgical Palliative Care (a must have!), click here.

To learn more about the surgical palliative care community, visit us on twitter @surgpallcare

To learn more about the surgical palliative care community, visit us on twitter @surgpallcare

Previous Episode

Palliative Care in the Emergency Department

#014 - Join host Dr. Red Hoffman as she interviews Drs. Kate Aberger and David Wang, emergency medicine physicians who specialize in palliative care. They are the editors of the recently released book, "Palliative Skills for Frontline Physicians," a collection of case-based vignettes which illustrate how to practically integrate palliative care into all fields of medicine, including surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine and critical care, among others. David and Kate discuss how to successfully integrate palliative medicine into the care of emergency room patients, the forces that make this integration difficult and the reality that this work cannot be done without the support of hospital administration. Kate talks about her palliative care work during the COVID epidemic in New Jersey and David shares research conducted at his institution which showed that palliative care consults placed by ED physicians at admission resulted in decreased length of stay and lower overall hospital costs for patients. Join us for another inspiring episode that proves that palliative medicine can be utilized successfully throughout the hospital, even in the basement (where it seems many EDs are located!).
To learn more about the recently released Palliative Skills for Frontline Physicians, click here.
To learn more about palliative care in the emergency department read this article by Dr. Wang.
To learn more about the surgical palliative care community, visit us on twitter @surgpallcare.

Next Episode

Dr. Rick Greene: Integrating Palliative Care into Surgical Oncology

#016 - Join host Dr. Red Hoffman as she interviews Dr. Rick Greene, a surgical oncologist and a champion of palliative care for surgical oncology patients. Rick currently serves as the medical director of the Cancer Data Registry at the Levine Cancer Institute in North Carolina. As a past president (and founding member) of SAGES, past president of the Southeastern Surgical Society, past chair of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, past chair of the American Joint Committee on Cancer and past Chair of Surgery at Carolinas Medical Center, Rick can certainly be described as accomplished. However, what is perhaps even more striking about Rick is how thoughtful and insightful he is, about both medicine and life. In this episode, he shares his early experiences as a young surgeon aboard the USS Nimitz and discusses the influence of beshart (a Yiddish word which means inevitable or preordained) in his life. Rick also offers his advice on how best to approach and talk about surgical complications. Lastly, he discusses how important it is for surgeons to plan for life after surgery and recounts the necessity of always reinventing oneself (Rick is a writer and a radio host!)
Articles discussed in the episode:
Patient Loss: Surgeons Describe How They Cope
The Joys of Creative Writing
Check out The Recovery Room, a podcast hosted by Dr. Greene and supported by the American College of Surgeons here.
To learn more about the surgical palliative care community, visit us on twitter @surgpallcare.