Reviving the Narrative to
Explore a Patient’s Suffering
An Interprofessional ProblemBased Learning Module
Suffering Module: Goals
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To bring together students from multiple
health professions for:
1. Interprofessional education
2. Introduction to palliative care
The Narrative
Why use a narrative?
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History
Simulates real patient encounter
Allows deeper exploration of the patient
Emotional power
Electronic delivery to allow non-linear
exploration of the story
http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/Intro0-table.html
4 business leaders discuss the importance of storytelling in the 21st
century
Developing the Story
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TW plus 3 students:
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Medicine (Kate Strasburg)
Nursing (Christy Thompson)
English (Emily Martin)
Met with education experts from each
health profession  learning objectives
From these, developed character sketch
EM used this to write 49 pieces of dialog
The Instructional Design
Face-to-Face #1 (30 min)
 Introductions: Facilitator and Students
 Instructions and Expectations
 Pre-test
 Resources distributed:
 Overview of Total Pain
 Introduction to Interprofessional Teams
Face-to-Face #1 (30 min)
Meet the Patient
 Using Patient Navigator
 Non-linear navigation through
the patient’s story
 60 minutes maximum
Story Map
Face-to-Face #1 (30 min)
Meet the Patient
 Using Patient Navigator
 Non-linear navigation through
the patient’s story
 60 minutes maximum
Face-to-Face #1 (30 min)
Meet the Patient
eHealth
Record
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
 Appears
after 20
minutes
 Personal
 Area for each
profession
 Each
profession
must post a
preliminary
assessment
of the patient
 Mostly
medical
history
 Private
 Students can
post questions/
comments to
any area
Face-to-Face #1 (30 min)
Meet the Patient
eHealth
Record
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
 Appears
after 20
minutes
 Personal
 Area for each
profession
 Each
profession
must post a
preliminary
assessment
of the patient
 Mostly
medical
history
 Private
 Students can
post questions/
comments to
any area
Meet the Patient
eHealth
Record
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
Face-to-Face #2 (3 hours)
 Compare progress notes to fully assess patient
 Identify key contributors to patient’s suffering
 Create learning objectives
 Resources distributed:
 Interprofessional articles
 Profession-specific articles
 Lists of internet and community resources
eHealth
Record
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
Face-to-Face #2 (3 hours)
Self-Directed Learning
 Read resources given
 Access other online or paper resources
 Gain knowledge of:
 Their profession’s role
 Assessment of suffering
 Patient management
Face-to-Face #2 (3 hours)
Self-Directed Learning
Revisit
Patient
 Can reenter the
story at any
previously
seen point
 30 minutes
maximum
Private
Notes
 Add more
notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
 Continue
previous
discussions or
start new
ones
 Can update
progress
notes based
on new
knowledge/
assessment
of patient
Face-to-Face #2 (3 hours)
Self-Directed Learning
Revisit
Patient
 Can reenter the
story at any
previously
seen point
 30 minutes
maximum
Private
Notes
 Add more
notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
 Continue
previous
discussions or
start new
ones
 Can update
progress
notes based
on new
knowledge/
assessment
of patient
Self-Directed Learning
Revisit
Patient
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
Face-to-Face #3 (3 hours)
 Discussion about:
 Each profession’s role
 Information learned about management
 Compare revised progress notes and finalize
patient assessment
 Assemble a final Interprofessional Care Plan
 Evaluations of the module and the participants
 Includes post-test
Revisit
Patient
Private
Notes
Discussion
Forum
Progress
Notes
Face-to-Face #3 (3 hours)
Interprofessional Care Plan
 Final deliverable
 Synthesis of each profession’s contributions to
patient management
 Divided into domains of suffering
 Will be saved for future spiralling of the case
The Product
Next Steps
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Complete programming
Pilot the module: 2 facilitated groups of 810 students from multiple professions
Evaluation and revision
Enhance with media: Video, audio, photos
Demo
http://137.122.239.228:8080/examples/totalpain02/
Disclaimer: We still have a lot of work to do!
Credits
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Developers:
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EFPPEC:
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Emily Martin, Kate Strasburg, Christy Thomson, Tim
Willett
Anne Bailliu, Peter Barnes, Leonard Bloom, Maryse
Bouvette, Susan Brajtman, Alyson Brodeur, Mary
Egan, Frances Fothergill-Bourbonnais, Pippa Hall,
Frances Legault, Lynda Weaver
iMed:
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Michael Clarke, Brad Genereaux, Nancy Hebert, Patti
O’Brien, Rong Sun
Contacts
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Pippa Hall, Department of Family Medicine,
Division of Palliative Care, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Ottawa, [email protected]
Michael Clarke, iMed, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Ottawa, [email protected]
Tim Willett, iMed, Faculty of Medicine, University
of Ottawa, [email protected]