Storytelling 2.0: Part I – Telling Better Stories in Medicine
Tell me a story and I will follow. Tell me your story and I am so on board it’s ridiculous.
I work at a children’s hospital that has a blog. But Bloorview Kids Rehab does more than post. It tells stories.
- “Lena distracts herself by threading bravery beads onto necklaces — each marking a painful procedure or special accomplishment.” [+]
- “Taryn, a girl 10 days his junior, is Jake’s girlfriend. This incredible blond-haired girl with deep dimples on both cheeks donates all her tooth fairy money to PMD research so she can help find a cure for Jake’s disease.” [+]
Note that it’s not just the facts; it’s the style. It’s like being there. Parents of children with disabilities even guest-post:
When my son with disabilities was younger, I often felt a failure because I still grieved for him. Why did I feel sad, mad, guilty and anxious – when I adored my son and he brought me such delight?
And that makes the BLOOM blog stand out.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about this storytelling business.
I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin, which argues that leadership requires a manifesto. I think that the manifesto is a story. It resonates because it is so intensely personal.
Who are we? How did we get here? What will we achieve?
One facet of Medicine 2.0 is caught up in the toys: like iPad for EMR – Twitter for pandemic-tracking — even my own research, an emotion recognition engine.
But we must not forget that the central unit, the ideal granularity of our work is always the patient. The patient, who has the need. Who lives the story.
The story is important.
Lest technology – heck, anything – subsume the patient, we need to tell better stories.
Quick example: Twitter in the real world
Here’s a quick example of a story that engaged me.
I had gathered these vague impressions that Twitter could be useful in health beyond networking. There was an abstract somewhere about mining tweets for medical keywords. I’d heard that some people tweeted their blood sugars? I was not too sure.
Then I saw Nick Dawson’s (@nickdawson) beautiful Prezi:
One sentence: “This weekend in Richmond, it snowed…it snowed a lot.”
A single sentence on the first pane against a backdrop of snow, and I knew it was going to be a good story. And it was. The blizzard spoke and this Virginia hospital responded, using Twitter and Facebook to reach thousands of followers.
Love it.
Prezi’s not bad, either.
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The question is: how can we achieve more like this?
Many stories are used to broadcast.
But even for the one-on-one doctor-patient relationship, good stories breed good communication and empathy.
I was also reading how some physicians are frustrated by EMRs because the data organization impedes the story. These are all points to consider.
That’s all for now.
In Part II, I’ll cover several of my recent web finds that may be useful for medical storytelling, or at least inspire us to (further) glory!
Related posts:
- Our Hospitals Put up Posters on Tactful Medical Blogging
- Fibro-what? A Social Dictionary For Medicine
- We’re All Still Jenny from the Block: An Exhortation to Local Hospitals
Tags: blogging, Bloom blog, Bloorview Kids Rehab, children's hospital, pediatrics, Prezi, rehabilitation, storytelling, Twitter
