Narrative Medicine, University of Illinois

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the Narrative Medicine framework for practicing medicine. Rita Charon, MD PhD, who developed the field of Narrative Medicine writes that “The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competence, that is, the ability to acknowledge, absob, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence, called narrative medicine, is proposed as a model for humane and effective medical practice.” In this elective, students will learn to elicit from patients’ their narratives in a way that creates a better connection between physician and patient. Medical students will learn how their own narrative as students and future physicians affects the way they practice medicine. In developing their narrative competence, medical students will become more empathetic, compassionate and well-rounded physicians. Elective only. 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.