Title: Five questions to ask all Patients from Kinjal Sethuraman<br/>Author: Michael Bond<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/78/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Atul Gawande's book Being Mortal is a thoughtful and well researched review of how we treat our ill, elderly and dying. He suggests 5 questions to ask all patients as an opening discussion </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">What is your understanding of where you are and of your illness?</span></li>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Your fears or worries for the future</span></li>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Your goals and priorities</span></li>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">What outcomes are unacceptable to you? What are you willing to sacrifice and not?</span></li>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">And later, what would a good day look like?</span></li>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Asking these allows everybody to understand what the goal really is — what are you really fighting for? It’s for a life that contains certain things.</span></p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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<span style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Gawande, A. (2014).</span><span style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Nunito Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="color: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;">Being mortal : medicine and what matters in the end / Atul Gawande: Medicine and what matters in the end / Atul Gawande</span><span style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Nunito Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">(First edition.). New York: Metropolitan Books : Henry Holt & Company.</span></p>
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