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. 2023 Dec 12;22(1):199.
doi: 10.1186/s12904-023-01319-w.

The role of patients' stories in medicine: a systematic scoping review

Elaine Li Ying Quah  1   2 , Keith Zi Yuan Chua  1   2 , Casper Keegan Ronggui Lin  2   3   4   5 , Andrew Vimal Vijayan  5 , Nur Amira Binte Abdul Hamid  5 , Jasmine Lerk Juan Owyong  5 , Neeta Satku  1   3 , Natalie Woong  6 , Crystal Lim  7 , Gillian Li Gek Phua  2   8   9 , Eng Koon Ong  2   5   9   10 , Warren Fong  1   9   11 , Lalit Kumar Radha Krishna  12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19
Affiliations

The role of patients' stories in medicine: a systematic scoping review

Elaine Li Ying Quah et al. BMC Palliat Care. .

Abstract

Background: Patients' stories provide Palliative Care physicians with a glimpse into the former's lives and their psycho-emotional, sociocultural, and contextual considerations. Yet, few physicians are trained to interpret and apply patients' stories in their practice. Inherent variability in how stories are transmitted and interpreted raises questions over their potential effects on care. Amidst a dearth of accounts in Palliative Care, we map current use of patient stories to guide the training, assessment, and oversight of this 'care influencing' practice in medicine.

Methods: This systematic scoping review was guided by the Systematic Evidence-Based Approach (SEBA) to ensure a reproducible and structured approach. The themes and categories identified through the Split Approach's concurrent and independent thematic and directed content analyses provided a comprehensive sketch of the included articles. The Jigsaw Perspective combined the themes and categories identified. The last stage of SEBA compared these results with two recent reviews of storytelling to ensure consistency of the domains created that guided the discussion.

Results: Ten thousand two hundred seven articles were reviewed, 963 full text articles were evaluated, and 199 articles were included. The four domains identified were study characteristics, benefits, approaches, and positive effects and concerns.

Conclusion: Stories support patient-centered, personalized, and holistic clinical care. However, variability in the stories, their interpretations and use in care decisions underscore the need for further study on the structuring, teaching, assessing, and delivery of this 'care influencing' practice.

Keywords: Care determination; Narratives; Palliative Care; Patient centered care; Physicians; Professional identity formation; Storytelling.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The SEBA process (adapted from Krishna et al. [79])
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
PRISMA-ScR flowchart
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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