[8] Oral presentation

[8-19] My Life My Story: Teaching geriatrics fellows to listen to veteran patients' narratives

*Susan Nathan^1,2,4,3, Andrea Wershof Schwartz^1,2,3 (1. VA Boston Healthcare System, New England Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center(United States of America), 2. Harvard Medical School(United States of America), 3. Brigham & Women's Hospital(United States of America), 4. Boston University School of Medicine(United States of America))

Presentation language：English

COVID-19 has shed light on the importance of listening to the stories and experiences of older adults, who disproportionately bear the social isolation, morbidity and mortality during this pandemic. My Life My Story (MLMS), a narrative life history program based at Veteran's Affairs Hospitals in the US, teaches trainees to listen to Veterans' life stories using a structured interview that is written up and provided to the Veteran and made available in the clinical chart, with the patient's permission.

We will describe the MLMS experience for fellows in the Harvard Multicampus Geriatric Medicine Fellowship. During their VA Geriatrics or Palliative Care rotations, fellows interview at least one Veteran through the MLMS program. From 7/2017-6/2020, 16 fellows have interviewed 17 veterans across an array of clinical care settings, including acute care, subacute rehabilitation, long term care spinal cord injury unit, inpatient hospice, and in their home via telephone interview. Trainees received anonymous and optional email surveys for evaluation and rate the experience as a highlight of their training.

MLMS offers a structured and feasible model for integrating narratives into clinical training to help humanize older Veterans and prepare geriatric fellows to better elicit and bear witness to their stories.