Narrative Medicine: Stories of Illness and Beyond by Huma Baqir (guest writer)
Narrative medicine (NM), or reflective writing in medicine, recognizes the value of the patient’s story in clinical practice, medical education and research. The idea of combining story-telling with medicine has played a part in medical education for over 40 years, with studies repeatedly showing that a literary flavor of this sort can strengthen and support the compassionate instincts of doctors. Writing about patients and patient encounters, thus, not just creates a unique learning and teaching experience, but also allows for the processing of one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions. This very processing, in turn, allows for empathy and compassion to be bred, acknowledged, nurtured…and then shared in the most fluid of transactions. With this idea in mind came the concept of NM at the Aga Khan University (AKU), with Dr. Asad Mian leading yet another effort under the banner of CriticalCreative Innovative Thinking . The effort soon translated into a workshop on January 20 th , 201