The VA My Life My Story Project: Keeping Medical Students and Veterans Socially Connected While Physically Distanced

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Narrative competence comprises the skills of acknowledging, interpreting, and acting on the stories of others. Developing narrative competence is integral to providing patient-centered care. In January 2020, we designed a narrative medicine curriculum in which medical students at the San Francisco Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center in California participated as interviewers in My Life My Story (MLMS) program. The curricular objectives for medical students were to build life story skills, appreciate the impact of storytelling on a veteran's health care experience, and understand the VA mission. OBSERVATIONS: Students attended a training session to build narrative medicine skills, interviewed a veteran, entered their life story into the health record, and attended a second session to debrief. Students completed a survey after the MLMS program. From March to July 2020, COVID-19-related restrictions prompted transition of the program to a virtual format. Sixty-two veteran stories were collected, and 54 (87%) veterans requested that their stories be entered into the health record. Students reported that the program helped them develop life story collection skills and understand how sharing a life story can impact a veteran's experience of receiving health care. There was no statistically significant difference in survey responses whether interviews were in person, by telephone, or over video. CONCLUSIONS: A curriculum incorporating MLMS effectively taught narrative medicine skills to medical students. The program achieved its objectives despite curricular redesign for the virtual setting. This report details an adaptation of a life story-focused narrative medicine curriculum to a virtual environment and can inform similar programs at other VA medical centers.