Using patient narratives to enhance care for those with asthma

What is it about?

In this paper, we look at the role of patients' own narratives in helping to shape the medical care they receive from General Practitioners, Respiratory Nurses and other healthcare specialists involved in the treatment of asthma. The use of patient narratives can empower patients in seeking better tailored treatment plans for their asthma. The problem: although current asthma guidelines help improve clinical processes of care for asthma, there is also a need to improve self-care of asthma by empowering individuals to take more control of their own condition. There is a growing appreciation that a narrative approach with patients with asthma, which focuses on the illness experience and aims to enhance patient-clinician understanding, can improve self-care. Solutions: we explore how a framework for clinicians to listen to patients’ stories, might enhance communication, improve patient-clinician relationship, and foster better patient self-care. Conclusions: the paper closes with the implications of this approach for clinical practice and future research.

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Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash

Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash