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 20th, 2016, with Drs. Murad M. Khan and Ayesha Mian co-facilitating the process. Guest Speaker Dr. Simi Rahman, AKU MBBS class of 1997, currently a medical narrativist and physician-educator at the Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California, provided a refreshing,insightful take on the subject.


The workshop was well-received. A total of 30 people participated, with the activities spanning the first half of the day. In a somewhat ‘flipped classroom’ approach, there were didactic sessions and group activities, with the latter requiring participants to read aloud their own works, and have the group reflect and critique on them. Held at the Juma Building, the workshop brought together individuals from different walks of life (Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry; medical and non-medical professionals, residents and students) in an atmosphere that served a pleasant break from routine. The initiative not just gave participants a better understanding of the importance of NM, and the ethical boundaries enmeshed within it, but also gave reluctant writers and listeners a sense of liberation. In this regard, it was an effort aimed at nudging them into starting their own blog, getting their pieces published in biomedical journals or newspapers - or even penning down their very first book.


In the short-term, though, it led to the formation of the Writers’ Guild (WG) – an online editorial boardthat houses medical narratives from anyone interested in the fledgling effort. An interest group in its own being, WG has been pivotal in bringing together amateur writers, editors, artists/photographers and blog developers - friends, colleagues and strangers, connected uniquely by the will to let patient stories flow from one heart to the next.

The journey of WG began with Dr. Asad Mian publishing a narrative medicine piece titled ‘Letting Ali Die’ in the Express Tribune newspaper – the link then found its way into his blog and other portals of social media, and reached a like-minded cohort of readers. One by one, physicians, nurses, students, as well as non-medical professionals, followed suit, putting their heads and hearts to work, and letting more narratives sweep their way into the ‘NM blog’. Relevant to the field of surgery in particular, Drs. Shahzad Shamim and Anila Darbar put the local myth ‘surgeons don’t have the time or will to write’ to rest, with Dr. Darbar also assisting the first-ever WG workshop at Liberty Books as both a facilitator and reviewer.

It didn’t matter if the writer was young or old, or half- or full-baked – appreciation and encouragement automatically filed in. Comments and discussion flowed, and new acquaintances made under the said exchange of perspectives. Perhaps the effort had turned into a small community of sorts…

To date, a total of 11 doctors, four students and two non-medical professionals have become part of the NM pool of writers, with a separate student-doctor ‘league’ involved in the behind-the-scenes work: namely reviewing / editing, illustrating / photographing and blog developing. Much like the shoemaker’s elves, the tasks undertaken by the ‘league’ are voluntary - borne out of the sheer labor of love – with the contributions being collected, posted and shared on a rolling basis.

Although a new concept at our university, NM isn’t an alien phenomenon at all: Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons has one such program, for example, which offers doctors training in NM, as well as the opportunities to practice empathy as a skill. According to work by NM pioneer Dr. Rita Charon, medical personnel exposed to literary works are more willing to adopt another person’s perspective, even after as few as three or four one-hour workshops - and that was a notable achievement.

Pulsating, international dynamics like these underscore the importance of NM, which then becomes a positive culture. But even if that hadn’t been the case, introducing NM at AKU would still have been a great idea, for reasons more than one: NM provides a framework for those who wish to listen to that which is not said, and helps them bask in the realization that they are not alone in feeling a certain way. It acknowledges teamwork, cultivates humanism, adds creative dimensions to the patient-physician relationship, and shows that empathy is more than just a term localized to the undergraduate curriculum; it is for real.  


About the Author: Huma Baqir, AKU MBBS Class of 2017, is interested in pursuing a career in psychiatry.

About the Reviewer / Editor: Asad I. Mian MD, PhD, is an Associate Prof., Dept. of Emergency Medicine, AKU.

Editorial Note: Copyright belongs to the author. This is from a series collected as part of the Narrative Medicine Workshop at AKU on January 20th, 2016. The editorial work was performed by the Writers’ Guild, an interest group at AKU, with the purpose to promote love of reflective reading and writing, within and outside of AKU. 

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