Palliative care is a subspecialty of internal medicine that focuses on providing relief from the symptoms and stress associated with a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and their family. People with chronic illness often have a high symptom burden, whether that is cancer-related pain, nausea and vomiting, dyspnea, constipation, or delirium.

 

 

Professionalism in the workplace is essential in any occupation, but even more so in health care settings. However, is no  uncommon for one’s professionalism to be challenged during an academic career.

 

During the fall semester of my second year as a student pharmacist, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. On the day that I was to receive the news, I walked around with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. When I got to work that day, my little sister called to tell me that our parents were acting strange and left to take a drive. At that moment, I knew my mom had received bad news at the physician’s office. Quickly, I called my parents to figure out the news. That day was the first time I heard those words, and I was immediately filled with worry and grief. 

 

Did you know that heart disease kills more than 610,000 Americans each year, accounting for one in every four deaths? According to CDC, it is the leading cause of death among men and women. Cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and stroke, still remains the leading global cause of death at 31%, per the World Health Organization. In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds and heart disease results in health care costs of about $200 billion each year.

 

These dramatic findings have prompted me to encourage student pharmacists to have key conversations about heart disease this February, in commemoration of American Heart Month.