A pioneer in defining the role of medical humanist; Ms. Bandman is a writer, co-founder of the Center for Communication in Medicine and co-author of CCM’s signature tool, SpeakSooner®: A Patient’s Guide to Difficult Conversations.
Categories
A Medical Humanist’s Notes
CCM co-founder, Celia Engel Bandman, created the blog “A Medical Humanist’s Notes” to explore the lived world of illness and how improved communication can lead patients, healthcare professionals and loved ones to an informed and empathetic course of treatment.
We Will All Be Patients Someday
Information is everywhere but effective communication is more elusive. In this recent blog, Celia describes an exchange when presenting to a group of oncology fellows which highlights the challenges of honest and open communication between patients and their...
Still True
It was true nine years ago and it's still true today! Read Celia's blog, What Is Left Unsaid... and join other caring medical professionals and individuals in spreading the word of the importance of educating patients and loved ones to be effective communicators -...
Join Us in the Encore
For over thirty years, Celia has been writing A Medical Humanist's Notes, her blog that explores the lived world of illness and how improved communication can lead patients, healthcare professionals and loved ones to an informed and empathetic course of...
Then and Now
As I think of Virginia Wolf looking for “diamonds in the dustheap,” I dig through piles of materials that sit not far from my desk. What I recently found was an Associated Press story published February 3, 2003 titled “Institute Emphasizes Human Side of...
Secret to Health
As readers know, the focus of my work has been to develop programs and tools to improve healthcare communication and quality of care. In an essay by primary care physician Dr. Rebecca Ann Levine, she describes her approach to opening conversations with older patients...
A Nudge Can Go a Long Way
When I first heard the term “behavioral economics” it didn’t get my attention. I assumed it had to do with marketing, not related to my interest in healthcare communication. Then I read an article about the role of behavioral economics in primary care (Using...
Doctors Have a Hard Job
The primary focus of my role as a medical humanist has been to help patients prepare to open conversations with healthcare providers about their health status and planning of care. I can recall instances when I was working at the cancer center in Bennington when...
WRITING IS GOOD MEDICINE
Center for Communication in Medicine co-founder Celia Engel Bandman developed Writing is Good Medicine® while serving as a “medical humanist” at a cancer center in Vermont. Workshops were designed for patients, loved ones and medical professionals to help explore the experience of those living with illness and those caring for them.