https://vimeo.com/156579676 Have you ever asked a patient what they're hoping for, and they reply: "I'm hoping for a cure". When...
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VitalTalk Conversations Blog
Radical acceptance
By David Schwartz
/ February 4, 2016
https://vimeo.com/154206766 In the process of cultivating prognostic awareness, you'll hear patients (& families) swing from extreme to extreme. What to...
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The pitfall about ‘quiet’
By David Schwartz
/ January 27, 2016
https://vimeo.com/153238570
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Sent from beyond death…
By David Schwartz
/ January 14, 2016
https://vimeo.com/151929536 Two notable contributions to the public dialogue about living and dying with a serious illness appeared this week. David...
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Calibrating your emotions in real time
By David Schwartz
/ December 16, 2015
https://vimeo.com/148946421 We all have emotions while we're with patients—and we all need calibration so that we can distinguish whether we...
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Balancing your agenda with your patient’s
By David Schwartz
/ November 22, 2015
https://vimeo.com/145173080 Do you ever walk in with your agenda but find your patient's head is somewhere else? Try this principle...
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Fast & Slow Thinking
By David Schwartz
/ October 20, 2015
https://vimeo.com/142914851 When you’re in the middle of a conversation, your ability to switch between fast and slow thinking can make...
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Talking Maps
By David Schwartz
/ September 30, 2015
https://vimeo.com/140966988 When we're in a conversation, we organize individual skills into sequences that we call 'talking maps'--these maps help you...
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The wisdom of our emotions
By David Schwartz
/ September 17, 2015
John was waiting in the exam room for me. I was standing outside the door, not wanting to go inside....
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The affect you create
By David Schwartz
/ September 14, 2015
https://vimeo.com/139239734 The environment that happens around a patient-clinician encounter is not just about the patient's emotion--it's about yours too...
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The surprising power of ‘and’
By David Schwartz
/ August 20, 2015
https://vimeo.com/136844692 I just worked with a fantastic group of Palliative Medicine physicians in Sydney, and have a couple of tips...
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When you’re thinking too far ahead
By David Schwartz
/ August 1, 2015
https://vimeo.com/137880060 We all fall into the trap of thinking -- and then talking -- too many steps ahead of our...
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Controlling multi-tasking: getting grounded
By David Schwartz
/ July 30, 2015
https://vimeo.com/134880481 Have you had a moment when multi-tasking or noticing your computer took you away from a conversation, especially during...
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Learning from Pixar
By David Schwartz
/ July 8, 2015
https://vimeo.com/132878202 We've been talking about how emotions influence communication for years. But Pixar's nifty visualizations pump some new life into...
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Finding enriching colleagues
By David Schwartz
/ May 13, 2015
https://vimeo.com/127750373 Finding a community and colleagues who can support clinicians in improving communications skills is essential. We can do...
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Eliciting values: an advanced move
By David Schwartz
/ April 30, 2015
https://vimeo.com/125679592 In doing goals of care conversations, one of the most common pitfalls we see is when clinicians try to...
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A daughter’s view
By David Schwartz
/ April 16, 2015
On the cancer clinic waiting room: “It’s a very liminal place”- Greta Austin The perspective of a family member: surprise,...
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Secondary trauma isn’t communication training…
By David Schwartz
/ April 10, 2015
The new graphic medicine story in the Annals of Internal Medicine, “Betty P," left us feeling dismayed. Great graphic style, yes....
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Connecting is not a luxury…
By David Schwartz
/ March 28, 2015
https://vimeo.com/122568404
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Does optimism make you compassionate?
By David Schwartz
/ March 17, 2015
Uh, no. While it is possible to do a study that associates physician optimism with 'compassion' scores, if you relax the definition of compassion to...
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