From medical history taking to story listening

Abstract

The ancient roots for “disease” in English and “病” in Chinese both signify “being unwell” as told from the patient’s story: the English origin of “disease” was “dis-ease”, while “疒” , the Chinese root of “病" , symbolized a sick person resting in bed in a propped up position.

Advances in medicine in elucidating the aetiologies of “dis-ease,” often to microscopic and molecular levels, led to the emergence of objective, scientific concept of “disease” from earlier subjective ideas of “dis-ease,” so much so that nowadays more emphasis is being put on structured medical history taking to detect a particular disease pattern rather than listening to the patient’s story of “dis-ease.” Thus, the sick man “disappeared” in the modern society as doctors directed their gaze not on the individual sick person but on the disease of which his or her body was the bearer.”

To tune in with the Cadenza symposium theme of “advent of an elder friendly Hong Kong,” adopting a life-story perspective can help in the provision of coordinated services to elders through collaboration and listening to an elder by asking the right question “who is this elder?” (listening to his/her story so as to provide person-centred care), instead of just focusing on “where should he/she be placed?” (a decision that is often resource-driven). In the words of Stephen Watkins, “The purpose of community care is to promote privacy, dignity and independence and provide resources for living. It is a philosophy, not a place.”