Teaching pharmacy students and residents patient-centered care through interviewing veterans

Abstract

Objective. To incorporate the My Life, My Story program into pharmacy learners’ training and assess its impact on the learners’ self-reported patient-centered care competencies. Methods. Fourth professional year (P4) pharmacy students and first and second year (PGY-1 and PGY-2) pharmacy residents at a veterans health care facility were instructed to identify a patient to interview during their rotation. Following a guide provided to them, the learners conducted an interview and wrote their patient’s story. Learners also completed anonymous, voluntary, pre-and post-activity surveys online intended to assess their patient-centered care competencies and report the impact of and overall perceptions about the experience. The total number of learners and stories were tracked by reviewing patients’ medical records. Results. Between July 2016 and February 2019, 34 pharmacy learners completed 40 veterans’ life stories. The participants included 28 P4 pharmacy students and four PGY-1 and two PGY-2 pharmacy residents. Of the 34 learners, 9 (26%) completed the optional, anonymous pre-activity survey and 16 (47%) completed the post-activity survey. On a Likert scale (1=poor to 5=excellent), learners reported a significant improvement in their ability to let the patient tell their story, view the patient as a whole person, and show care and compassion. Overall, participants reported that the learning experience was a good use of their time to a great (56%) or large (28%) extent and helped them to foster a positive relationship with their patients. Conclusion. Integrating the My Life, My Story program into pharmacy learning experiences may assist in developing patient-centered care skills in the clinical setting.