Introduction to Narrative Medicine is designed to introduce students to Narrative Medicine and to close observation of the human experience especially as it relates to sickness and to health. In a small-seminar format using lecture, careful analysis of literature, writing exercises, course discussion, and shadowing in the hospital, students will explore the role of narrative in Medicine and the vast expanse of human stories. The course will be broken up into four blocks: What is Narrative Medicine where we will focus on the discipline of Narrative Medicine and the role of narrative; Narratives of Illness and Health to focus carefully on universal human experiences; The Doctor Narrative to explore the role of a doctor and the ways doctors hear, tell, and embody patient stories; and Dividends of Narrative Medicine where students will envision a personal and collective future for clinical experience. During this course, students will learn methods of observation and communication and hone their ability to hear stories and to tell them. Students will be graded on class participation, three short writing assignments and one longer writing assignment.
The Lewis Katz School of Medicine also offers a Narrative Medicine program, featuring credit-bearing courses including Narrative Medicine, Narrative Medicine Special Topics, Literature and Medicine, and Narrative Medicine and Clinical Practice. For more information, see https://medicine.temple.edu/education/narrative-medicine-program/sample-courses.
This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.
History
Subject Area
Medicine
Geographic Region
Middle Atlantic
University or College
Temple University (Katz)
Funding Status
Public
Endowment (according to NACUBO's U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change* in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20) ($1,000)
641053
Annual Tuition and Mandatory Fees 2021-2022 ($) (Resident; Non-resident, where applicable)
55483; 58761
Course Title
Introduction to Narrative Medicine
Terminal Degree of Instructor(s)
MD
Position of Instructor(s)
Assistant Director, Narrative Medicine
Academic Year(s) Active
2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22
Course Enrolment
between 6 and 15
Primary Works on Reading List
James Baldwin, Sonny's Blues; Dwayne Reginald Betts, Blood History; Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Jhumpa Lahiri, "A Temporary Matter" (in Interpreter of Maladies), Joan Didion, Year of Magical Thinking; Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones; and selected poetry by William Carlos Williams, Bertoldt Brecht, Mary Oliver, and William Stafford.