The My Life, My Story Program: Sustained Impact of Veterans' Personal Narratives on Healthcare Providers 5 Years After Implementation

• Published in: Health communication 2021-06, Vol.36 (7), p.829-836
• Main Authors: Roberts, Tonya J., Ringler, Thor, Krahn, Dean, Ahearn, Eileen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical outcomes; Health care; Health services; Health status; Life history; Narratives; Patient-centered care; Patients; Polls & surveys; Qualitative analysis; Statistical analysis; Veterans
• ISSN: 1041-0236; 1532-7027
• DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1719316

Patient-centered care promotes positive patient, staff, and organizational outcomes. Communication is one critical element of patient-centered care. Establishing a patient-provider relationship in which a patient feels comfortable sharing their goals, preferences, and values is important to support patient-centered care and positive health outcomes. The My Life, My Story (MLMS) program was developed in 2013 to elicit and share Veterans' life stories with their healthcare providers. Life stories become part of the Veteran's chart so providers can access, read, and utilize as appropriate. To evaluate the program's sustained value and impact 5 years after implementation, healthcare staff were recruited to complete a short survey with closed and open-ended items. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative survey responses and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative responses. Approximately 94% of staff indicated they had read MLMS notes and over 86% agreed or strongly agreed that reading the notes was a good use of their clinical time and helped them provide better treatment or care. Staff also described making more personalized decisions about the plan of treatment or care delivery after knowing the Veteran better from their story. Our findings suggest the MLMS program has been well sustained over time, and the use of patient stories in healthcare may be a valuable, practical, and sustainable tool to support the delivery of patient-centered care.