Who owns the patient narrative anyway?

An emerging trend in health care is the concept of a patient "narrative" — the "story" that makes up a patient's history, diagnosis and prognosis.

The problem is how to give a patient the chance to tell their story, in her or his own way, when the provider only has eight to 10 minutes before moving on to the next patient.

Currently it's a game of deduction — the provider asks pointed questions and gets to the best answer as quickly as possible. But that's not satisfying to either patient or provider.

Maybe there's a better way.

A recent Twitter chat about health care social media (#hcsm) revealed a great opportunity to collaborate on the patient narrative. From Kathy Nieder, MD, a family physician at Baptist Medical Associates in Louisville, Ky.:

T3 I want to learn how to better chart patient narratives in the #EHR, I'm listening better thx to #hcsm, but documenting is difficult #hcsm

— Kathy Nieder MD (@docnieder) January 6, 2014

My response:

@docnieder And perhaps finding ways to have patients collaborate on that narrative! #hcsm

— Jim Rattray (@jimrattray) January 6, 2014

This followed on a similar discussion about whether the term "patient" has run its course and should be retired and replaced with something new. Suggestions ranged from "person" to "colleague."

The ultimate goal of patient engagement is collaboration and understanding — building a partnership between patient and provider where dialogue replaces monologue.

As EHRs (electronic health records) mature, the next step needs to be smart interfaces that allow patients to tell their stories, in their own words and their own way, and have the EHR "translate" that into meaningful and actionable information for the provider.

Such a system would not only provide a greater level of satisfaction for patients, but give providers a more complete picture of their patients.

What is the voice of your brand?

In health care, your brand voice is your people — your patients, their families and your staff.

Your brand is what each of these groups say about your organization.

It's what patients tell others about how they were treated. It's what they whisper, good or bad, about what they witnessed your staff doing in their idle time.

And it's what your staff — doctors, nurses, caregivers and non-caregivers — say about the what it's like to work for you.

When you have built a strong organizational culture — one of inclusion, listening, transparency and compassion — then you have a strong brand story to tell.

An out-of-industry example comes from the Danish shipping company Maersk, which sheds light on how focusing on the voices of an organization can bring life and attention to a brand. Writing for AdPulp, David Burn notes:

It is safe to say, “brand voice” is no longer something best whipped up in an ad agency brainstorm. Rather, a real living brand voice — one with resonance and power — is an amalgamation of the human voices who work at the company.

In health care, those voices must include the patients and their families. They already tell stories about their experience — you want those stories to always be positive and enlightening.

Source: AdPulp

Experience the exciting challenges of a career in procurement in Maersk Group by following Nicole who is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the video she explains her daily activities and responsibilities while working for Maersk Drilling, and goes on to explain how these are nicely balanced with her home life and personal hobbies.