The Power of Storytelling in Healthcare

Challenge & Selection

Storytelling is a great way to connect with patients. As a clinical research student

at Toronto General Hospital (UHN), I had the privilege to contribute to large-scale  clinical studies in the Nephrology and Dialysis departments aimed to improve chronic  kidney disease (CKD) and transplant knowledge among TGH patients. Our approach  was to concentrate and focus our research on various psycho-social and ethno-cultural  determinants of access to kidney transplantation, and assessing barriers to living donor  kidney transplantation.  Specifically, my team and I are striving to produce culturally and  religiously sensitive educational packages on CKD for the South-Asian and Muslim  communities. We wanted investigate the reason behind myths or biases that these  respective communities might have acquired through their interactions with their culture  and debunk them with facts to promote healthcare understanding within their groups.

In order to do this, we needed to develop an emotional and empathetic

connection with the patients in the dialysis units so that we could really grasp what  problems and barriers they may be facing to knowledge retention and accessing  treatment. Storytelling is a great tool that allows the researchers to really explain the  "why" of research to the patients so that they are more willing to participate and help us  help them, this is something that is most often seen as "boring" or "dry".  As well,  storytelling allows both researchers and patients to collaborate with one another to work  towards holistic approaches in solving complex health problems and health barriers by  putting the patient's needs at the centre of the matrix.  As Mario Flores, global  leadership mentioned, storytelling is another avenue to uncover and discover  unarticulated needs by really listening to how the users interact with whatever product  we are trying to innovate.

Application:

A hospital is oftentimes a very serious and busy place.  Patients come in with their  healthcare needs and healthcare providers work tirelessly to go through as many  people and offer as much care as they can during their shifts. Due to the hasty nature of  an institution as this, it can be hard to develop patient-provider relationships.  When  there are gaps in communication in a hospital, there can be gaps in the delivery and  quality of healthcare.  This tool of Storytelling was applied using an online clickable  survey platform on easy-to-use iPads which allowed researchers to get to know their  patients on a one-on-one basis and hear their perspectives through their delivery of  care.  Questions touched upon different aspects of patient's healthcare journey, from  assessing availability of different levels of emotional strength through their treatments,  community support, religious affiliations that may bring different avenues of support and  all the way to socieconomic and financial barriers that may create burdens to sustain  their treatments and improve their conditions. All of these factors may be putting these  dialysis patients under great pressure. This tool was highly effective, as it allowed us to  uncover barriers that may have not been put under great emphasis in the past, such as

the time spent at the hospital undergoing procedures or the commute to and from their  hospital appointments which may be difficult for patients that live far from the city.

Insight and Approach

Storytelling allowed us researchers to slow down in our research and really sit

down with the patients to hear their story.  By doing so, we developed "patient  empathy", which is similarly from what was discussed in lectures using Geoff's mindset  of "customer empathy.  One patient had mentioned that they lived 2 hours from the city,  and the early 7 AM appointments were very hard on him and his family, as they had to  wake up at 4 AM just to prepare and commute to make it on time to their appointment.  Design thinking would allow these kinds of details not to be overlooked when thinking  about the efficiency of health care delivery.  One suggestion for an improvement that my  team had after we uncovered these data, would be to schedule people that live farther  from the city later on the day  to make it a bit easier for them.  This simple observation  could make a difference at how that patient's day looked. Design thinking truly does  allow the designer to look for more holistic solutions.

Next time, I may decide to combine storytelling with another useful tool:

visualization.  When working with groups of people that don't share the same language  or background as you, visual aids can go a long way to connect and communicate. To  go along with our survey, perhaps including graphic aids with the questions for those  patients that did not understand. When my team ran into language-barrier problems,  usually a translator or an alternative question or statement was said alongside the  questions to help the patients whose first language is not English.  The addition of the  visualization tool in a form of graphic aids on the iPads could have helped facilitate this  barrier a bit better, and perhaps allow patients to feel even more comfortable while  answering our surveys.


The Power of Storytelling in Healthcare Challenge & Selection Storytelling is a great way to connect with patients . As a clinical research student at Toronto General Hospital ( UHN ) , I had the privilege to contribute to large - scale clinical studies in the Nephrology and Dialysis departments aimed to improve chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) and transplant knowledge among TGH patients . Our approach was to concentrate and focus our research on various psycho - social and ethno - cultural determinants of access to kidney transplantation , and assessing barriers to living donor kidney transplantation . Specifically , my team and I are striving to produce culturally and religiously sensitive educational packages on CKD for the South - Asian and Muslim communities . We wanted investigate the reason behind myths or biases that these respective communities might have acquired through their interactions with their culture and debunk them with facts to promote healthcare understanding within their groups . In order to do this , we needed to develop an emotional and empathetic connection with the patients in the dialysis units so that we could really grasp what problems and barriers they may be facing to knowledge retention and accessing treatment . Storytelling is a great tool that allows the researchers to really explain the " why " of research to the patients so that they are more willing to participate and help us help them , this is something that is most often seen as " boring " or " dry " . As well , storytelling allows both researchers and patients to collaborate with one another to work towards holistic approaches in solving complex health problems and health barriers by putting the patient 's needs at the centre of the matrix . As Mario Flores , global leadership mentioned , storytelling is another avenue to uncover and discover unarticulated needs by really listening to how the users interact with whatever product we are trying to innovate . Application : A hospital is oftentimes a very serious and busy place . Patients come in with their healthcare needs and healthcare providers work tirelessly to go through as many people and offer as much care as they can during their shifts . Due to the hasty nature of an institution as this , it can be hard to develop patient - provider relationships . When there are gaps in communication in a hospital , there can be gaps in the delivery and quality of healthcare . This tool of Storytelling was applied using an online clickable survey platform on easy - to - use iPads which allowed researchers to get to know their patients on a one - on - one basis and hear their perspectives through their delivery of care . Questions touched upon different aspects of patient 's healthcare journey , from assessing availability of different levels of emotional strength through their treatments , community support , religious affiliations that may bring different avenues of support and all the way to socieconomic and financial barriers that may create burdens to sustain their treatments and improve their conditions . All of these factors may be putting these dialysis patients under great pressure . This tool was highly effective , as it allowed us to uncover barriers that may have not been put under great emphasis in the past , such as the time spent at the hospital undergoing procedures or the commute to and from their hospital appointments which may be difficult for patients that live far from the city . Insight and Approach Storytelling allowed us researchers to slow down in our research and really sit down with the patients to hear their story . By doing so , we developed " patient empathy " , which is similarly from what was discussed in lectures using Geoff 's mindset of " customer empathy . One patient had mentioned that they lived 2 hours from the city , and the early 7 AM appointments were very hard on him and his family , as they had to wake up at 4 AM just to prepare and commute to make it on time to their appointment . Design thinking would allow these kinds of details not to be overlooked when thinking about the efficiency of health care delivery . One suggestion for an improvement that my team had after we uncovered these data , would be to schedule people that live farther from the city later on the day to make it a bit easier for them . This simple observation could make a difference at how that patient 's day looked . Design thinking truly does allow the designer to look for more holistic solutions . Next time , I may decide to combine storytelling with another useful tool : visualization . When working with groups of people that do n't share the same language or background as you , visual aids can go a long way to connect and communicate . To go along with our survey , perhaps including graphic aids with the questions for those patients that did not understand . When my team ran into language - barrier problems , usually a translator or an alternative question or statement was said alongside the questions to help the patients whose first language is not English . The addition of the visualization tool in a form of graphic aids on the iPads could have helped facilitate this barrier a bit better , and perhaps allow patients to feel even more comfortable while answering our surveys .