Emma Brecht

Emerson

IDMD 101

10 October 2023

Patient Care: A Whole Story Picture

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever had” (Margaret Mead). All change in the world has been spurred by the actions of a few people who began on a small scale. When it comes to the volunteers of a program called My Life, My Story, this quote will soon ring truer than ever. Because of their out-of-the-box ways of thinking and active initiative, I believe that their ideas will soon revolutionize the way a disease is evaluated and treated. 

In the article Storytelling Helps Hospital Staff Discover the Person Within the Patient, written by Bram Sable-Smith, the efforts and successes of My Life, My Story are told through the experiences of a man named Bob Hall. Bob Hall is a US veteran who had been in and out of the hospital for quite a long time. While recovering from his recent surgery, a volunteer entered his room to talk. The volunteer asked for his story, and Bob was happy to comply. As he spoke, the volunteer wrote his story down on a file. When she was finished, she allowed Bob to read over the story and make any changes to parts that were inaccurate or that he didn’t like. The story was then placed in his permanent medical record for the VA hospitals. The program was originally created for residents and med students to quickly learn a lot about the patient in a short period of time, helping to build their connection with the patient. Some physicians do not know the right questions to ask, and for this reason, a professional writer was hired to tell the patient’s story. Over time, these filed stories improved patient care and expanded patient outreach.

This article reinforces one of the main ideas of our class discussions: the biopsychosocial model. We have found ourselves asking questions such as “How do the doctors convince patients to tell them their entire story,” “How do doctors bridge the patient, physician trust gap,” and “How do doctors know what questions to ask and what information is relevant?” The initiative made by My Life, My Story answers these questions. The initiative suggests that a part-time or full-time employee at hospitals is hired to document the stories of patients. It would be a small cost with a large outcome. If physicians have access to the stories of their patients, then they will be able to better understand the patient; if physicians are able to better understand the patient, then they will know where a patient is coming from and how to approach the appointment, which will improve the overall patient care experience. 

The biopsychosocial model views medicine from the perspective of the whole life of the patient. It declares that biology, psychology, and social well-being are all intrinsically connected when it comes to the patient’s state of health. Bio affects the psycho, psycho affects the social, social affects the bio, and vice versa. Some aspects are within the physician’s control, some aspects are not, while others lie in a gray space. In most cases, biological aspects are within the control of the physician, social well-being aspects are out of their control, and psychological aspects can be both within and outside of the physician’s control. There are many debates regarding how much control a physician can have over the psychological factors of a patient, and how much information should be taken into account when it comes to assigning a diagnosis and treatment plan. 

The initiative set by My Life, My Space expands the responsibility doctors have in regard to considering psychological factors. The stories being attained and written will help the physician get a fuller picture of the patient’s world and life experiences, which will lead to a more thorough diagnosis and treatment plan. When doctors are able to better understand their patients, they attain a higher capacity of respect for the patient. When a doctor cares for their patient and is able to show their care in a way the patient can see, the patient will trust the doctor more. It will make healthcare visits run smoother and will strengthen the bonds between a patient and their physician. 

Another aspect of the volunteer organization that I find interesting is that it not only strengthened the physician’s care but also drew in people from outside of the patient’s typical care unit. An employee at the hospital stayed after her shift one night to talk to Bob because she had read his story in a file and it sparked an interest. Because of this, Bob and the employee had a lovely conversation, and both parties walked away from it with an improved mental state. The program ran mostly in VA hospitals, whose patients are older and do not have very many family members and friends visiting them in the majority of cases. Humans were built for socialization, and when stuck in a hospital room alone all day, patients are missing these crucial interactions. To have their physicians and others who care for them taking the time to reach out means a lot to the veterans. It makes them feel less alone and desolate, which has been shown and proven to improve the overall state of health in these patients. 

Alongside the veterans hospitals, the program has begun to expand to some smaller hospitals. I think that as this program and its ideas continue to grow, it will expand to healthcare practices all over the country. It will become the normal and expected standard of care, and will permanently improve the healthcare industry. So much change is coming, and it was all sparked by one person.

What started out as something small eventually grew and took on a whole new meaning. Dr. Elliot Lee set out to help medical residents more quickly connect with patients who would not have the time to form a meaningful connection, and ended up improving the medicine for all physicians. No doctor is perfect, and no patient is perfect, therefore there will always be a gap between patients and physicians. Regardless, the simple addition of a story in a medical file can lessen this gap and improve healthcare all around the world. 

Works Cited

Sable-Smith, Bram. “Storytelling Helps Hospital Staff Discover The Person Within The Patient.” NPR, 8 June 2019, Accessed 10 October 2023. Medical Storytelling at the VA Bridges Gap Between Patients And Caregivers : Shots – Health News : NPR

Engel, George. “The Biopsychosocial Model and the Education of Health Professionals.” University of Rochester Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, pg 169-181, Accessed 10 October 2023.