This guide is to help humanize diseases and disorders that healthcare practitioners will encounter. Students study various aspects of diseases and conditions- from the pathophysiology to signs and symptoms, complications, and treatments, but rarely have the opportunity to hear the stories of individuals with a disease/condition. This guide allows the opportunity to listen to the experiences and stories of individuals with different disorders and diseases and start understanding how it truly impacts a person, their lives, family, and communities. The goal is to help develop clinical empathy skills and provide a more profound ability to connect with people within a patient-centered care model.  

Please email me if you have any questions or would like to contribute to the platform of stories.  I can be reached at: jbarthels@nwhealth.edu

I was grateful to have had the opportunity to present a poster board presentation on my Humanizing Disease platform at the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) conference in St. Louis from November 3rd - 5th, 2022.  The concept of clinical empathy and the importance of students developing this trait was a common theme within many of the presentations.  Please access the links below for a PDF version of my poster board and a picture of it at the WFC conference.