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 . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: 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 .
### Output: 