1. Doing something with stories
No point in capturing stories and then doing nothing with them
Need to extract the information in a methodical way
No need to transcribe stories – lose the very essence of what they are (and it’s very expensive!)
Not only what is said – it is the way it is said
Use the methodology involved in theming

2. Doing something with stories
Stage 1 Listen to individual stories and create a mind map
Stage 2 Peer review
Stage 3 Identification of good practice and areas for quality improvement

3. Stage 1
Bear in mind that this is the bit of the process that takes the most amount of time
Best done a short while after story gathering
Mind mapping is a useful technique
Start with patient in the middle and work outwards as you hear different things being said
Need your pause and rewind buttons!

4. Frustration with lack of choice
Operation was carefully explained - important
Frightening to be given surgery date with no info about what happens next
Consultant 2 - world of difference, took time, explained, gave print outs
Nice, professional feel to ward – went well
Consultant 1 – “brusque” didn’t assess me
Appointments & admissions really helpful – told you need surgery then hear nothing
Pain relief after surgery – was very sick
KL cholocystectomy
Was asked if I wanted anti-sickness & automatically said no – should have said yes
Given dinner sheet before went home – insensitive as unable to eat fat (cauliflower cheese & sausage casserole)
Only knew to contact because I knew system
Did accept medication – felt very random and unplanned
Changing dates – make life arrangements e.g. childcare etc
Would have liked to have been told before about post op medication rather than when woozy
Unsure as to whether you’ve been forgotten
Or even to be told this was OK
Phone back in morning to see if a bed
Very stressful – everyone said I would be cancelled so expected it – felt fortunate when wasn’t cancelled
I feel like I had to ask for pain relief
How do you know what is correct information?

5. Stage 2 Peer review – supports the team approach to story gathering
A colleague listens to the story and creates their own mind map
Remember that we all hear things differently – two sides to every story!
Provides an opportunity to discuss different things you hear the patient say and compare different view points

6. Stage 3
Identification of indicators of good practice as well as areas for quality improvement
It is essential to consciously do both of these – this is not simply a focus on the negatives
Prioritisation of actions – make sure you can answer the ‘so what’ of story gathering so that it makes a difference

7. Pulling out the themes
There are no hard and fast rules about numbers of stories – and remember that each story is valid in its own right
Listening to several stories can help you to identify common themes and any consistent patterns that will help to prioritise any action
But it is about identifying a systematic way to do this

8. Having a go at mind mapping
I will play a story through from beginning to end first – use the time to listen and absorb the essence of the story
I will play it again and pause (and rewind if you want!) and you can try mind mapping
This is not for real so don’t worry if you don’t capture everything
Compare what we each hear in our groups

9. Identifying themes
Through listening to stories we will start to hear consistent themes coming through
Don’t expect rocket science – themes may be as basic as communication or information
Begs the question though – if this isn’t rocket science, why are we still hearing the same messages?

10. Essential to do something
So, using your individual mind maps, use the post-it notes on your table to write down the different points that you have identified in the story – use one post-it per issue
Stick these onto the flip chart paper
As a group, we will start to see if we have identified consistent issues from the story (remember in real time this will be different stories)

11. To do this…. Pick one post-it note and stick it on your paper
Pick up the next one – ask yourselves as a group “does this fit with the first one?”
If it does, stick it next to it
If it doesn’t, start a new column
Keep asking the same question
You will end up with themed groupings of all of the issues from the stories
These will help you to identify prioritised actions

12. This is a whistle stop tour!
If you have any further questions I will try to answer them, or contact me at
Thank you