The Living History Program©

The Living History Program©
Putting the PATIENT in patient-centered care

Imagine a customer service product that is quick, easy, affordable and patient-centered. The Living History Program© is just that.

With this innovative approach, your employees and volunteers learn to interview patients for their life story. When the story is written, it becomes a gift to the patient and the family and becomes a useful tool for the health care team.

The story increases satisfaction on all levels. people love to be listened to. patients and families enjoy the process of telling the story. Employees and volunteers enjoy spending time with patients and hearing their stories.

The clinical team loves having a mechanism to help them give care to the heart and soul of the patient, not just the diagnosis. Nurses and physicians use the information in the story to increase their connectivity with the patient. The story is used by social workers and case managers in the discharge planning process.

A Living History story can also be a powerful tool in safety initiatives and fall reduction programs. Read on to see how our "story" unfolds and discover for yourself the many facets of the Living History Program.
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Look for Living History Presentations at these upcoming seminars and programs:
BEACON~The Bay Area Patient Safety Collaborative
San Francisco, California
South San Francisco Conference Center
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

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Highlights of the Program

In this the 8th year of existence, thousands of stories have been written and used successfully by a variety of health care organizations. Here are just some of the benefits:
Proven improvements in satisfaction for employees, families and most importantly, for our patients and residents
Relative ease of implementation and LOW cost makes the program highly desirable
Success is directly linked to only one thing--commitment to doing what is right and good in health care
Improves communication for many inside and outside of the workplace
Enriches lives
Creates lasting facility loyalty
Brings home the message: "The patient is the reason for the paycheck"
Makes our touch more loving
Is a joint victory that everyone in the organization can celebrate
Improves job satisfaction
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Congratulations to Sheila
University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois
Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration
May, 2009
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More GREAT News
Sheila Brune will start February 15, 2010
Director of Service Excellence
CGH Medical Center, Sterling, Illinois

Request more information

To get more information about the program, e-mail Sheila Brune at livinghistory.sb@gmail.com
or sslbrune@mchsi.com

The Living History Program©
Mission Statement

The Living History Program© provides a document that gives basic life information of selected patients to enable healthcare workers to provide care to the heart and soul of the patient.
A Living History increases satisfaction for the patient, family and members of the care delivery team.
The Living History provides a mechanism for changing our connections
with the people we care for.
We learn to understand and appreciate our patients better through
the use of their personal stories.

The Living History Program is a mechanism for getting personal life stories on selected patients in the hospital or any other health care setting.
After the story is written, we use it to create stellar patient care experiences.
The program uses selected, trained employees who interview patients/residents and/or families to get basic life information which then becomes a one-page story.
The story becomes a part of the medical record so all who come into contact with the patient have information to make connections on new and exciting levels.

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The story basic content includes:
Name--including what the person prefers to be called
Parents' names--including mother's maiden name
Date of birth and place where they were born
Information about siblings--birth order, where they are now
School information, where and when
Marriage information--including how they met, where they lived and what they did for a living
Children--names and what they do/where they live
Grandchildren and great-grandkids
Jobs and occupations throughout life
Church and community activites/Organizations they belonged to
Hobbies and interests
Favorites--food, vacation, pet, color, TV show, kind of music, or best loved movie
What they love most in their life--what has value for them