Intention to Treat
From the New England Journal of Medicine, welcome to “Intention to Treat,” a podcast exploring the most complicated, perplexing, and fascinating issues facing medicine today. From groundbreaking research, to clinical advances, to personal stories from doctors and their patients, we give you a behind-the-scenes look at discoveries that are changing medical practice and provide you with the knowledge to thrive on the front lines of health care.
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
The Long Haul of Long Covid
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
This episode explores long Covid, an often-disabling but unexplained syndrome of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. How is it affecting millions of people, and what is being done about it?
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2309483.
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
What We Don’t Know about School Shooter Drills
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
This episode peers into U.S. schools to examine a widespread but non–evidence-based approach to preparing children and staff for gun-violence incidents.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2308309.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Awakened Hope for Narcolepsy
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
In this episode, a patient with narcolepsy describes her rough, long road to diagnosis and treatment, and a researcher elucidates both the condition and a new therapeutic direction.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2308308.
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Obesity and Heart Failure
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Cardiologists now recognize that heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) may be caused by obesity. This episode of “Intention to Treat” examines new evidence that treating obesity can prevent HFpEF.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2307349.
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Preventing HIV’s Collateral Cardiovascular Damage
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
People living with HIV have increased risk for cardiovascular disease (and other diseases of aging) earlier in life than those without HIV. In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” researcher Steven Grinspoon describes a new strategy for preventing collateral damage.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2307347.
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Prospects for Pain
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Some types of pain have proven resistant to all available medications. In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” Rachel Gotbaum talks with a patient with neuropathic pain and a researcher exploring new sodium-channel blockers that offer promise for such patients.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2305759.
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
The Plight of Primary Care, Part 2
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
What is driving U.S. physicians out of primary care — and keeping trainees from going into it in the first place? In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum explores the breakdown of the system and possible ways to save it.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2305758.
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
The Plight of Primary Care, Part 1
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
This episode of “Intention to Treat,” explores the crisis in primary care in the United States, as increasing numbers or primary care physicians leave the field — driven out by corporatization, growing time pressure, and the inability to form the relationships that enable good care.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2303852.
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Unleashing CRISPR on Cancer
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum explores the story of a teenager who’s now in remission from previously relapsed lymphoblastic leukemia and talks with the investigator who developed the “off-the-shelf” CAR T cells that made her treatment possible.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2303851.
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
New Patient-Centered Options for Cancer Treatment
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
“Intention to Treat” host Rachel Gotbaum talks with patient Awilde Peña and oncologist Deb Schrag about a new approach to treating rectal cancer that sidesteps the need for radiation, thereby avoiding long-term side effects and preserving fertility.
A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2303850.
About the Host
Rachel Gotbaum, the host and producer of the NEJM podcast “Intention to Treat,” is an award-winning health care journalist with more than two decades of experience reporting and hosting audio documentaries, narrative features, breaking news, and podcasts. Rachel has worked as an editor, reporter, and producer on several national radio programs, including NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Weekend Edition,” and “Here and Now.” Her stories have aired on NPR, “Marketplace,” CBC Radio, and PRX’s “The World” and have been published by the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Kaiser Health News. She has frequently focused on the culture of medicine and its effects on all aspects of health care, from policy to patient outcomes.