Some Kentucky hospitals are working with something known as “narrative healthcare.” This is defined as an approach to healthcare that emphasizes the power of storytelling and patient narratives to improve patient care and understanding.
Robert Slocum is the coordinator of the Narrative Medicine Program at the University of Kentucky Hospital. During an interview with WEKU's Eastern Standard, Slocum said he likes to ask different questions to the patients he sees.
“What brings you here? Which is a direct invitation to the patient to discuss their history, the history of their ailment, and the history of their treatment. What helps you the most? Which is drawing out their sources of strength, their resources. Do you see anything differently as you have progressed?”
Slocum said narrative healthcare helps patients renegotiate their place in life as they deal with an illness or injury. He said it isn't just for those in decline either.
“One in rehabilitation faces challenges even as improvements are taking place. When they finally, so to speak, get back out there again, whatever, driving again, going into challenging situations again for the first time in a while, there is a renegotiation there as well.”
Slocum said he likes to ask patients a series of questions, which helps the medical professionals understand the patient better. He said this type of care helps the patients and the medical team helping them see things from a different perspective.
Hear more with Robert Slocum on Eastern Standard, coming up later today at 1 p.m. and again at 8 p.m.
