Welcome back!
I hope the past week treated all of you well! Last week, I had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Pratt, an optometrist, in his private practice. During the work breaks, he exposed me to diagrams and models of the eye and followed that with techniques to understand the way vision works. Within the practice, vision care is their top priority, but by observing the physician-patient relationship, I got the sense that patient care is just as valuable to him.
In comparing this shift to my previous ones, I found more room for implementing patient narration here because each appointment was so centered on how the patient is feeling, even if the visit was a simple annual checkup. At the beginning of each appointment, Dr. Pratt sat eye-level with the patient (a tip the UofA taught me to make patients feel comfortable), and asked if there was anything the patient wanted to address or ask before he began the examination. What I uncovered was that he used this to gear his own examination and vision care priorities, which not only left the patient more satisfied, but also allowed the doctor to offer better diagnosis and treatment. Throughout the procedure, Dr. Pratt was an active listener to patient storytelling whether that was related to their vision or not. Their willingness to share showed a form of trust he had created over the years with his patients, and it was exciting to see each patient leaving in a better mood than they came in.
The rest of the week, I worked on finalizing my survey and making it official, especially focusing on the online version. Dr. Hartmark-Hill, my off-campus senior project adviser, introduced me to a software called Qualtrics which many researchers use for generating data and trends. I was able to form my own survey with a pre-programmed Likert Scale and set a sample size X value to equalize data.
As promised in one of my first blog posts, the following are the questions my survey entails:
1. Taking the time to ask a patient about their story is valuable to patient care (diagnosis, treatment, etc).
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
2. Taking the time to ask a patient about their story is valuable to patient outcomes (improvements in health, safety, etc).
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
3. Knowing the patient's story improves physician-patient relationships.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
4. Knowing the patient's story makes clinical practice more enjoyable.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
5. Knowing the patient's story can improve clinical team communication.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
7. Better understanding one patient's story can increase awareness of the need to ask other patients about their story and consider unique factors influencing health in these other patients.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
As always, thank you so much for reading, and best of luck to everyone as the year comes close to an end!!
Anivarya
I hope the past week treated all of you well! Last week, I had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Pratt, an optometrist, in his private practice. During the work breaks, he exposed me to diagrams and models of the eye and followed that with techniques to understand the way vision works. Within the practice, vision care is their top priority, but by observing the physician-patient relationship, I got the sense that patient care is just as valuable to him.
In comparing this shift to my previous ones, I found more room for implementing patient narration here because each appointment was so centered on how the patient is feeling, even if the visit was a simple annual checkup. At the beginning of each appointment, Dr. Pratt sat eye-level with the patient (a tip the UofA taught me to make patients feel comfortable), and asked if there was anything the patient wanted to address or ask before he began the examination. What I uncovered was that he used this to gear his own examination and vision care priorities, which not only left the patient more satisfied, but also allowed the doctor to offer better diagnosis and treatment. Throughout the procedure, Dr. Pratt was an active listener to patient storytelling whether that was related to their vision or not. Their willingness to share showed a form of trust he had created over the years with his patients, and it was exciting to see each patient leaving in a better mood than they came in.
The rest of the week, I worked on finalizing my survey and making it official, especially focusing on the online version. Dr. Hartmark-Hill, my off-campus senior project adviser, introduced me to a software called Qualtrics which many researchers use for generating data and trends. I was able to form my own survey with a pre-programmed Likert Scale and set a sample size X value to equalize data.
As promised in one of my first blog posts, the following are the questions my survey entails:
1. Taking the time to ask a patient about their story is valuable to patient care (diagnosis, treatment, etc).
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
2. Taking the time to ask a patient about their story is valuable to patient outcomes (improvements in health, safety, etc).
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
3. Knowing the patient's story improves physician-patient relationships.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
4. Knowing the patient's story makes clinical practice more enjoyable.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
5. Knowing the patient's story can improve clinical team communication.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
6. Asking a patient about their story makes it more likely for them to return to the clinic.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
7. Better understanding one patient's story can increase awareness of the need to ask other patients about their story and consider unique factors influencing health in these other patients.
Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
As always, thank you so much for reading, and best of luck to everyone as the year comes close to an end!!
Anivarya
I really do like the fact that this physician values patient care and that there is an established connection between the doctor and patient. I think we need more of that in our society. I enjoyed reading and look forward to your next week's post.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of building a relationship through narration to improve patient care is definitely a fascinating topic and I'm glad you're able to see it in action! I'll check back again next week.
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