My time with UCSF’s Word on the Wards has truly been an eye-opening experience for me. Word on the Wards has given me a unique opportunity to collaborate and work with students from other professional schools in order to achieve a common goal: improving health literacy and empowering patients to take a more proactive role in managing their own health.
The interdisciplinary approach in Word on the Wards helps to bridge the gap between professions and allow students to learn from one another. Working in this environment has allowed me to develop my communication skills and better appreciate the expertise that other professions bring to health care. During my first health coaching session, I was paired with two medical students. I was amazed at how seamlessly they were able to use their motivational interviewing skills to ask our patient open-ended questions pertinent to his health, while also providing tips on how to improve his health. It was also very interesting to see how at first the patient was hesitant to share his experiences with us, but these open-ended questions allowed the patient to open up more and share his story, his experiences, and his worries moving forward. Because he was so open to us about his health, we were able to understand more about his needs and point him to resources to better his health and wellbeing.
One of the most important lessons I learned from Word on the Wards is that showing compassion to patients can go a long way. Sometimes, just giving our patients the time and space to share their stories is enough to give them comfort, and I hope to extend this same comfort to all of my patients in the future.