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Ohio University, Main Campus *
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2215
Subject
Medicine
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by SuperDangerSeaLion36
Health care workers around the world experience numerous factors that influence the way they
practice and treat patients. The type of education a person receives, the culture in which they were
raised, and the health care providers with which they work are all influencing factors. In my opinion, a
health care provider’s learning through reading or writing narratives influences their work in providing
health care just as much as any other contributing factor. I believe that narrative medicine helps improve
a provider’s communication and listening skills. I also feel that reading fictional literary works can help
develop increased empathy for others, and reading non-fiction works is also imperative to health care
workers.
Narrative medicine was first used in 2000 as a term to explain medical practice by providers who
are able to tell stories and understand stories that will improve patient outcomes (Charon, 2007). Being
proficient with narrative medicine does take some education and effort on the part of the provider.
Columbia University is training future health care workers with narrative training, which includes close
reading, attentive listening, reflective writing, and bearing witness to suffering and their research shows
evidence that those who attend the workshops “strengthen their therapeutic alliances with patient and
deepen their ability to adopt of identify others’ perspectives” (Charon, 2007). One way that narrative
medicine training helps a provider is by improving skills of clinical attention which is done by the close
reading of literary works and helps providers to take in all the details they’re given when listening to
patients or other providers (Charon, 2007). This is beneficial for each patient that the provider sees
because they’re less likely to miss small details when their clinical attention skills are so well honed.
One of the areas of focus in narrative medicine training is reading. While it is important for the
specific training, I feel all health care workers can benefit from reading. Reading fictional works can help
health care workers develop increased empathy for others, improve understanding of minority groups,
and improve their thinking and communication skills (Watson, 2016). Reading fictional works can help
improve a person’s cultural competency because it allows you to see into cultures and economic classes
other than your own. In my personal experience as an avid reader, reading a broad variety of fiction
helps me to develop broader views on the world, be more open minded, and I feel more educated when
I do encounter patients with different beliefs and different cultures than my own. Being more
understanding of other cultures because of what we learn through literature can help us build better
therapeutic relationships with patients who are different than us. We can then take that knowledge and
experience and advocate for changes within our own organizations to help improve disparities.
While I feel strongly that reading nonfiction can influence a health care worker’s practice, I also
believe that reading non-fiction is important and can have major impacts. Reading journal articles by
others in the world of health care can give different insights and can inspire providers to make changes in
their own practice, as well as advocate for changes within their own facilities. Reading non-fiction can
help keep providers up on current events and global health concerns, as we have all seen played out
over the past several years as we have all navigated a global health pandemic (Watson, 2016).
While I feel strongly about reading and writing narratives having a strong positive influence on
the practice of health care providers, I do understand that there may be others who believe that reading,
especially fictional literature isn’t important and doesn’t have an impact on health care professionals.
Those people may feel that because fiction isn’t real and factual and that health care workers should be
learning from textbooks and seminars. I would encourage those people to look into studies completed
about how reading can improve empathy. They could also argue that what is happening right here has
no impact on global health, but the things that local health care providers are doing can have a larger
impact. For example, local providers learned from the countless narratives they read or listened to of
firsthand accounts of COVID-19 around the globe and learned how to treat patients in their own
hospitals. They also learned from reading statistics and infection control practices and were able to
educate their own patients to help slow the spread of the virus. The same can be said for other diseases
and infections throughout history.
In conclusion, reading and writing narratives can have a significant impact on how a health care
worker interacts with their patients and their peers. Communication skills, empathy toward others, and
attention to detail can all be improved by reading. Reading is a hobby of mine and I do feel that it
broadens my overall knowledge of other cultures and belief systems as well as positively impacts my
practice as a nurse.
References
Charon, R. (2007). What to do with stories: the sciences of narrative medicine.
Canadian Family
Physician
,
53
(8), 1265–1267.
Watson, E. M. (2016). The importance of leisure reading to health sciences students: Results of a
survey.
Health Information & Libraries Journal
,
33
(1), 33–48.
https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12129
Response:
Narrative medicine is a relatively new way of practicing and looking at patients as a whole
instead of just as a medical chart or a list of symptoms. Narrative medicine training has become part of
multiple programs at Columbia University because through close reading of literary works, attentive
listening, and reflective writing, health care workers are able to improve their clinical attention skills and
help providers to take in all of the details they’re given when patients are telling their stories (Charon,
2007).
One thing that Meganne mentioned that made me think about things from a different
perspective is that physicians are often expected to see very high numbers of patients and their
caseloads are sometimes dictated by insurance companies or hospital policies. As a nurse, I often hear
complaints about physicians that don’t spend enough time with their patients, or the patients feel like
the doctors are rushed and don’t really care about them. It’s really sad that insurance can impose such
tough standards on the doctors that they aren’t able to spend longer with patients.
In my own nursing practice, I have heard the saying “do you want to talk to the doctor in charge
or the nurse who knows what’s going on” on more than one occasion. I have to wonder if that’s because
nurses are taught to listen differently and to see the patient as a whole instead of being forced to focus
more on just the patient’s symptoms and complaints due to time constraints. In my ADN program, we
were often told “as a nurse, you are the eyes and ears for your physicians.” That has always made me
feel like it’s even more important for me to spend those extra few minutes with a patient and hear their
story. If I can pick up one a small detail that the doctor didn’t have time to hear and the patient has a
better outcome because of it, the extra time spent is never wasted.
In conclusion, narrative medicine may be one of the most beneficial things we can learn for our
patients. Spending an extra few minutes listening can be the difference between positive and negative
outcomes. We owe it to ourselves and to our patients to be the best listeners we can be.
References
Charon, R. (2007). What to do with stories: the sciences of narrative medicine.
Canadian Family
Physician
,
53
(8), 1265–1267.
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