From Individuals With Aphasia and Brain Injuries to Poets: How the Book I Don’t Think I Did This Right Came to Be

From Individuals With Aphasia and Brain Injuries to Poets: How the Book I Don’t Think I Did This Right Came to Be by Kathryn Paulson, Brendan Constantine, and Jerry K. Hoepner, relates how a group of dynamic poets developed out of a few workshops for individuals with stroke-based aphasia and traumatic brain injuries. Starting out as an idea to spur creativity and help participants share their stories, the meetings quickly developed into the Thursday Night Poets group. Their first published work, described here, offers poetry of deep meaning and resonance for anyone who has ever faced a challenge.
Sonnet of Hope

In this lovely poem, the author pays tribute to the love that restores the soul when an ordeal afflicts the body. He reflects on the healing presence of caring friends and family throughout the process of mending both the injured body and the deflated spirit.
Racetrack

This beautiful and deeply moving poem focuses on a tiny object in a clinical setting. One day, this toy represents incredible joy and possibility, but the next day it evokes sudden loss and tragedy. The poem ends on a somber note, reflecting on the continuous strength of those who care for patients in hospitals.
Can Swearing Be Professional and Patient-Centered?

Exploring the Role of Swearing in the Physical Therapy Clinical Setting by Nicholas B. Washmuth and Adam Meakins, et al, shines a light on a somewhat taboo subject. Is swearing ever appropriate in the physical therapy clinic? Might it actually help give a patient added strength and endurance during a difficult regimen? And what if the physical therapist curses to indicate empathy toward a patient’s challenges? The authors present evidence that some swearing may indeed produce ‘hypoalgesic’ effects in patients, such as increased pain tolerance and compliance.
Through the Lens of Positive Aging

Through the Lens of Positive Aging by David Taylor and Leslie Taylor, et al, offers a fresh approach to the delivery of healthcare for an aging population in the United States – and globally. The ‘humanities interprofessional education activity’ described here is based on the
‘4Ms’ deemed critical for care of the elderly: What Matters; Medication, Mind, and Mobility.
Considerations for Addressing Cisgenderism and Heterosexism in Canadian Outpatient Physiotherapy Clinics

This thought-provoking article by Elizabeth Houdling-Braunberger and Colleen Greasley, et al, presents the results of interviews with individual patients and practitioners regarding Queer and
Trans health issues in physiotherapy clinics throughout Canada. The authors offer guidelines for change at three levels: the micro (individual clinics); meso (physiotherapist training and practice); and macro (community activism), to address specific inequities and improve overall
healthcare for patients adversely affected by cisgenderism and heterosexism.
Discover Your Potential
Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents Hispanic, overweight,lonely, and insecurefrom eight to sixteen,I’m not sure? The doctor said no morerice or tortillas …WHAT — are you serious?We have to get your waist down. Trying to fit in,to find the right crewgrowing up, juggling life.No drugs, no alcohol,just want to be accepted,just want to be […]
Poem Against Any More than a Glimpse of the Battered Athlete, or Time for Dr. Pepper, Duracell, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the New Chevy Malibu

Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents Coach scowls, calculates. Cue the substitute. Cut straight to commercial break. About the Author(s) Woods Nash, MPH, PhD Woods Nash, PhD, MPH is Assistant Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. He works at the intersection of […]
A Seat at the Table: A Reflection on Engaging Disabled People and Their Families in Research and Service Design

Dr. Phoenix and authors explore the metaphor “a seat at the table” in the context of including Disabled People and their families in system-level service design and research. They challenge us to consider inclusivity by interrogating this vision of “the table” in terms of ownership, participation, and consequences after a discussion ends.
Outside the Frame: Thinking Beyond the Visible in Medical Education

Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents Medical school can install students in locales both familiar and unfamiliar: the darkened hush of a lecture hall, the sheeted tables of an anatomy lab, the beeping monitors crowding an ICU. But students may now also find themselves before a Pollock or a Kahlo, contemplating art in the […]