Medical training is HARD. Let us count some of the ways in which it can be difficult:
- We work long hours
- We are exposed to an onslaught of information that we are supposed to retain
- We are constantly being pulled in a million different directions
- We have to somehow build rapport with a patient and their family and provide exceptional care in a 15 minute time slot
- We pay witness to some of the most difficult times in a patient’s life
- We experience death and loss and suffering
- We feel helpless in the face of socioeconomic disparities and injustice in the healthcare system
The list goes on. But for me, at least, finally becoming a pediatrician was the culmination of a 25 year journey (and the beginning of a new several decade one). Despite all of the difficulties, it is AMAZING. Here are some of the great parts of my job:
- Human beings, especially children, are super cool, and it can be incredibly rewarding to connect with them and their parents
- Learning new skills helps us build confidence in ourselves
- We get to solve complicated puzzles every day
- We have the privilege of watching our patients grow and evolve and the satisfaction of knowing we played even the tiniest part in that
- We get to work in highly-skilled teams with people we respect and admire
- We develop lasting and fulfilling relationships with our co-trainees
- Babies are cute (I am a pediatrician, after all)
Some days, it can be difficult to move past the bad and appreciate the good. Some days, it can be difficult to process everything we see throughout the course of a shift, a week, a year. This is where Narrative Medicine comes in. In her seminal work introducing narrative medicine to the medical community1, Rita Charon, MD, PhD, remarks,
“With narrative competence, physicians can reach and join their patients in illness, recognize their own personal journeys through medicine, acknowledge kinship with and duties toward other health care professionals, and inaugurate consequential discourse with the public about health care.”
So here’s my goal: that medical trainees (and others who would like to join) come on this journey with me to explore narrative medicine in an accessible way that is not time-prohibitive. I will typically approach this in the following way:
- On Mondays, I’ll dive deeper into the world of narrative medicine, starting with an introduction into the concept, the components, the data behind its benefits, and different examples we can look to for inspiration and communion.
- On Thursdays, I’ll offer a short writing prompt that can be done in 7 minutes. This is time that we can take for ourselves to process on our own and develop “narrative competence.” I will post my own response to the prompt the next week.
- I will continue the conversation (with some diversions) on Twitter @NimishaBajaj2
Thank you all for joining me on my adventure. For this week, the writing prompt is early due to Thanksgiving. It is a twist on a classic:
“Why am I grateful to practice medicine?”
You have 7 minutes. See you next week.
References:
- Charon R. Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust. JAMA.2001;286(15):1897–1902. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.286.15.1897
Writing for Wellness 