In their own words: presenting the patient's perspective using research-based theatre

In this paper we describe the development of a performance piece based on patients' stories of interacting with health care providers, its introduction into the curriculum to dramatise the patient's perspective on health care, and the evaluation of student responses.

The piece, entitled In Their Own Words, was created from transcripts of interviews with authors who wrote about their experiences of illness. Over the past 4 years, students have performed the piece as a dramatic reading as part of a required course for Year 1 medical students.

Analysis of the students' written reflections identified 5 major themes describing what students learned from the performance piece. These themes were: illness evokes emotions and providers must address both the physical and emotional needs of their patients; patients want health care providers to listen well and to understand patients' perspectives; providers' words and gestures profoundly affect patients; patients do not want to be defined, identified or treated as only their symptoms or illnesses, and information and conditions that clinicians consider routine can be very distressing for patients.

These themes identified in the students' comments represent critical concepts that health care providers must understand so that they can build therapeutic relationships with their patients. Thus, In Their Own Words is an effective tool for increasing students' awareness of patients' experiences of illness, which is a key aspect of learning to provide effective patient-centred care. Presenting patients' stories through dramatic readings represents an innovative approach to incorporating the patient's perspective into medical education.