Stories in Healthcare

3.0 credits

The practice of medicine depends on stories. Patients tell their stories to clinicians; clinicians listen to and interpret these stories. Clinicians then use information gathered from patients narratives to guide diagnosis and treatment. In this course, we will identify and develop narrative skills and techniques that clinicians use in practice, through the close study of narratives (poems, fiction, essays, films, etc.) and discussion of key texts in narrative medicine. Topics will include: playing god, death, cancer, professionalism, doctor/patient relationship, and others.