an itinerant observer

We do not claim to be experts on Narrative Medicine ‘criteria’ - particularly where the reflective aspect of the writing is concerned. However, based on our experience of reading and writing reflectively, we provide the following 15 key suggestions for effectively written medical narratives. Keen observation  is very important. Medicine is fast paced so taking time to reflect on every day happenings can make way for some very interesting narratives.   Have a central ‘message’  that needs to come across without sounding didactic / academic, lecturing, holier than thou, etc. Think of this as a subtle point you’ll be making to the reader by the manner in which you narrate the happenings.   Honesty is important  because it is difficult to pretend when you are writing. Sure you can but when you write about real things it shows.   Be creative and purposeful  in writing. Is the purpose to advocate for the p...

I will never forget the day when I learned the meaning of stress in the Emergency Department (ED). There was a massive multi-vehicle road traffic accident and many patients were brought in, pulling away most of the ED doctors and nurses on call, leaving the rest of the ED at my disposal. I was focusing on a procedure to save a man with a life-threateningly low blood pressure, when a nurse approached me with an electro-cardiogram of a new patient. Even at a distance, I could see he was suffering from a massive heart attack. And if anything worse couldn’t have happened, there was an overhead page for another trauma patient. I felt my blood pressure rise and I said to myself, “I can’t do this anymore!” What makes ED physicians not only stay calm, but function at the height of their game in face of an emergency? Some people may be a natural at this. But for those who are not, including myself, I have learned that we can rise to the challenge, eventually surprising ourselves. In or...

'Grow strong my comrade- that you may stand   Unshaken when I fall; that I may know   The shattered fragments of my song will come   At last to finer melody in you;   That I may tell my heart that you begin   Where passing I leave off and fathom more .'                                                             Will Durant Dr. MM Khan He was born in Mombassa, Kenya where my great grandfather was serving with the British army during the First World War. He then moved to a small town near Patna in Bihar. From those humble beginnings he rose to be offered a position in the US space agency NASA (which he could not take up for various reasons). His life's stor...

I know my patterns but I don't know my words, mom. I know what to add in my tea but I forgot to heat it up, mom. I know I'm thirteen but I can’t act my age, mom. I can create, I can draw, but I really can't read mom. I know tuition centers are the norm, but I need YOUR help, mom. I want to learn, play and make friends, but my behavior wasn't accepted in special school, mom. I was improving, I was learning, I was understanding, but it all fell apart. You chose two month long family weddings over my therapy, mom. -- -- When I met Alishba*, she was wrapped up in layers of clothes (since the temperature had dropped below ten degrees Celsius after the rain in Lahore). She walked with a spring in her step, and didn’t need help sitting in the chair in front of her psychologist, but she just sat with her mouth half open; waiting to be told what to do next. We asked her to write her name, she wrote down jumbled up alphabets in a pattern. She created ...