Some Pitfalls of Narrative Medicine and How to Avoid Them

The term “Narrative Medicine” (NM) refers to a range of activities, including close reading and reflective writing about literature, designed to improve the clinician-patient relationship. What could go wrong?  Our returning guest, English professor Laura Greene, lays out the case for narrative medicine, while co-host Saul Weiner highlights his concern that the challenges and rewards of interacting therapeutically with patients are categorically different from those of a physician interacting with a text.  Unless proponents of narrative medicine articulate these differences explicitly, they risk creating unrealistic expectations about what NM can achieve, particularly in regard to actual healing interactions in the exam room.

Om Podcasten

Doctors and other health care professionals are too often socialized and pressured to become “efficient task completers” rather than healers, which leads to unengaged and unimaginative medical practice, burnout, and diminished quality of care. It doesn’t have to be that way. With a range of thoughtful guests, co-hosts Saul Weiner MD and Stefan Kertesz MD MS, interrogate the culture and context in which clinicians are trained and practice for their implications for patient care and clinician well-being. The podcast builds on Dr. Weiner’s 2020 book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press).