Authors: Chandramani Thuraisingham, Sivalingam Nalliah.

ABSTRACT

A medical narrative is a physician-patient dialogue, where the physician listens carefully to fragments of the patient’s story, while interpreting their hidden messages and word sequences, as well as observing their gestures and body language. This aspect of the therapeutic relationship contributes to deciphering symptoms which are not apparent in the conventional interview and contributes to a much broader perspective of illness and health.

The arts and the humanities have always been inseparable from each other in medical education. In this biomedical revolution, the humanities are needed now more than ever before to bridge the divides that separate the physician from the patient, from self, from colleagues, and society.

Narrative Medicine (NM) which aims to treat the whole person, and not just the illness, is an emerging patient- centred discipline in medical schools that can humanise medical care and promote empathy. NM helps medical students cope with the suffering of their patients as well as their own emotions by reducing the anxiety and threat that come with illness, thereby providing a psychologically-sound foundation for the development of self-reflection and empathy.

NM facilitates medical students’ adoption of patients’ perspectives with the hope of ultimately leading to more humane, ethical and empathetic healthcare for their patients. The discipline of NM is critically examined in this review paper from the perspective of external and internal stakeholders.

Keywords: Narrative medicine, curriculum, patientcentredness, empathy, medical students.

Citation: IeJSME 2017 11(2): 4-13

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56026/imu.11.2.4