The Power of Patient Voice: Fostering Compassionate Team-Based Care Through Narrative
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Start Date
4-2026 1:30 PM
End Date
4-2026 2:30 PM
Description
This presentation explores an interprofessional education (IPE) module aligned with the theme of “Person, Family, and Community-Engaged Practice and Education,” featuring a powerful narrative from a 53-year-old psychologist, ovarian cancer survivor, mother, and alumna of the host institution. She shared her 23-year journey, beginning with a diagnosis of a rare form of ovarian cancer at age 30 while pregnant and completing her doctoral training in psychology.
Her story illuminated the complexity of navigating medical decisions in the absence of clear evidence-based guidance, while managing the emotions of a life-altering diagnosis. She described encounters with healthcare professionals ranging from exceptionally compassionate and interpersonally skilled to insensitive and dismissive. Drawing on personal insight and professional literature, she emphasized the importance of ethics, values, interprofessional communication, and trust in building interpersonal relationships for effective, team-based, patient-centered care.
Her presentation served as a call to action: for healthcare professionals to recognize the humanity in each patient, to take time to connect meaningfully, and to manage their own emotions as part of delivering sustainable, compassionate care. Attending to these practices improves patient outcomes and also helps prevent provider burnout and disengagement.
Participants—psychology doctoral students, master’s counseling students, and fourth-year medical students—engaged in small, interprofessional discussion groups co-facilitated by faculty and advanced students from psychology, medicine, pharmacy, and counseling. Facilitators were provided with a structured guide to support thoughtful, values-based conversation. Discussions focused on working with patients whose values may differ from their own, ethical self-awareness, and fostering compassion, resilience, and collaboration.
A qualitative analysis of 14 de-identified written reflections from medical students in five discussion groups was conducted using Atlas.TI. The interprofessional research team—including the patient-presenter, faculty, and students—coded 10% of the data to establish validity, with final themes developed through consensual validation.
Medical students from different accepted residency specialties had similar takeaways from this IPE session. Emergent themes revealed the significant impact of hearing a patient’s voice on understanding of whole-person care, benefits of gaining different professional perspectives on the emotional complexity of medical decision-making, and the critical role of self-reflection and self-awareness. Students reflected on humility, shared responsibility, and the value of connection in patient care. Many reported that the experience would shape their future professional practice and reinforced the importance of learning directly from patients. This study highlights how patient voices can enhance interprofessional learning and inspire more human-centered, emotionally resilient healthcare practice.
Embargo Period
6-2-2026
The Power of Patient Voice: Fostering Compassionate Team-Based Care Through Narrative
Philadelphia, PA
This presentation explores an interprofessional education (IPE) module aligned with the theme of “Person, Family, and Community-Engaged Practice and Education,” featuring a powerful narrative from a 53-year-old psychologist, ovarian cancer survivor, mother, and alumna of the host institution. She shared her 23-year journey, beginning with a diagnosis of a rare form of ovarian cancer at age 30 while pregnant and completing her doctoral training in psychology.
Her story illuminated the complexity of navigating medical decisions in the absence of clear evidence-based guidance, while managing the emotions of a life-altering diagnosis. She described encounters with healthcare professionals ranging from exceptionally compassionate and interpersonally skilled to insensitive and dismissive. Drawing on personal insight and professional literature, she emphasized the importance of ethics, values, interprofessional communication, and trust in building interpersonal relationships for effective, team-based, patient-centered care.
Her presentation served as a call to action: for healthcare professionals to recognize the humanity in each patient, to take time to connect meaningfully, and to manage their own emotions as part of delivering sustainable, compassionate care. Attending to these practices improves patient outcomes and also helps prevent provider burnout and disengagement.
Participants—psychology doctoral students, master’s counseling students, and fourth-year medical students—engaged in small, interprofessional discussion groups co-facilitated by faculty and advanced students from psychology, medicine, pharmacy, and counseling. Facilitators were provided with a structured guide to support thoughtful, values-based conversation. Discussions focused on working with patients whose values may differ from their own, ethical self-awareness, and fostering compassion, resilience, and collaboration.
A qualitative analysis of 14 de-identified written reflections from medical students in five discussion groups was conducted using Atlas.TI. The interprofessional research team—including the patient-presenter, faculty, and students—coded 10% of the data to establish validity, with final themes developed through consensual validation.
Medical students from different accepted residency specialties had similar takeaways from this IPE session. Emergent themes revealed the significant impact of hearing a patient’s voice on understanding of whole-person care, benefits of gaining different professional perspectives on the emotional complexity of medical decision-making, and the critical role of self-reflection and self-awareness. Students reflected on humility, shared responsibility, and the value of connection in patient care. Many reported that the experience would shape their future professional practice and reinforced the importance of learning directly from patients. This study highlights how patient voices can enhance interprofessional learning and inspire more human-centered, emotionally resilient healthcare practice.