The power of a backstory
How mini-biographies are helping elderly patients connect with their carers
How do you care for someone properly in a hospital or care home if you don’t know who they are?
With US hospitals seeing fast turnovers of staff, many clinicians don’t get the chance to learn their patients’ backstories. This can lead to patients feeling isolated and misunderstood. Meanwhile, staff miss out on valuable insights which could be incorporated into treatment plans or used to make someone’s hospital stay more comfortable.
But a start-up known as MemoryWell is working to fix this by hiring professional writers to create short biographies of patients that get pinned up on their walls. It’s helping staff personalise care for patients and it’s led to valuable points of connection at what can be a difficult and lonely time.
