Humanities in Medicine / Howard Spiro Lecture Series: "The McGovern Lecture: Living History Project"

The McGovern Lecture

Patients admitted to the Hospital often report that they feel that their emotional needs are not being met and their care teams do not know their personal story.  We sought to address these issues by ensuring that a patient’s personal story is heard by the health care team.

Sixteen self-selected undergraduates of Trumbull College at Yale University underwent training by Yale University facilitators in open ended interviewing skills and standard volunteer orientation at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH).  Appropriate patients were identified for interviews by nursing and physician leaders.

We believe that this creative effort to place the patient’s narrative front and center can positively impact the patient’s experience and help the health care team understand the power of a patient’s story.  Additionally, the undergraduate interviewers experience the transformative nature of bearing witness to a patient’s personal narrative.