I gave a presentation in business school about how to talk
with patients about vaccines. The intended audience was doctors who
are struggling with their conversations with patients about vaccines. I
have included a brief transcript of my talk below. To doctors, I hope you
find this somewhat novel approach useful.
~~~
Measles. Influenza.
Chickenpox. These diseases are
very contagious, potentially fatal, but all are preventable with a simple vaccination. Now I am not here to tell you about how
effective vaccines are. The research has
been done extensively, the facts are all out there, and we are all aware of
them. So why is it that only a third of
adults get their flu vaccines and only half of all children get their flu
vaccines? Obviously, the way we have
been talking to our patients about vaccines is ineffective. Today, I am going to tell you about a
different way to talk to our patients about vaccines.
The medical
community has been bombarding patients with facts, facts, and facts, but is it
working? Even though those facts are
completely valid, there are still patients who do not believe them. What we are missing is an emotional
connection.
People don’t make
decisions based on logic, but based on emotions. That’s why telling patients about vaccine
facts doesn’t work. Make your facts come
to life with a story. Statistical
numbers will come to life if you give each number a face, a name, a story. In order to change patient behavior, we need
an emotional connection. Without a
story, the facts don’t mean anything.
Does this mean we should
neglect all the facts about vaccines? No. What I am saying is that for patients who do
not believe in our facts, we have to use a different approach to connect with
them. You may say “But I don’t have any
stories.” There are actually a lot of
stories about vaccines. Let me give you
an example of one story.
This
is the story of Ayzlee McCarthy. She is
a very healthy 3-year old who lived in a small town in Iowa. Like any other little girl, she loved Frozen. She loved Dora the Explorer…Doc
McStuffins. She loved her “big girl
bed”. She was really proud that she just
completed potty training. As you can see
from her photos, she has a big smile, an infectious excitement for life. She had a wonderful Christmas with her
family. She spent the day after Christmas
running around the house. But on the 27th,
she became disoriented and was rushed to the hospital. She was diagnosed with the flu. On the 29th, she
woke up with labored breathing and racing heart. Ayzlee breathed so hard that she told her
mom, 'Mommy, I done. I done…I so
tired!” Her mom is actually a
respiratory therapist, and she remarked, “I’ve had elderly patients tell me
those things before they pass, but not a 3-year-old and not my own child!”
The mom told Ayzlee that she loved her as
the doctors intubated her. Ayzlee’s heart
stopped beating as the mom watched the procedure from the hallway. They
tried to revive her 3 times. Her mom
told the doctors “Keep doing it.” By the time Ayzlee’s dad arrived,
Ayzzlee still had a weak heart rate. The
parents went in and told their little girl they loved her one last time. She
died minutes later. She was buried on New Year’s Day this year.
The story here is that flu kills very quickly.
The flu shot can save a life. The measles shot can save a life. Vaccines save lives.
What is a story that you can use to share with your
patients?
I leave you today with this quote from an American
writer and bestseller author. He said, “When
dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but
creatures of emotion.” By changing our
own behavior toward our patients, I believe that it is possible to change their
behavior.
Go
ahead, tell a story. A story will help
them figure out what all these facts mean.
