Can narrative medicine education contribute to the delivery of compassionate care? A review of the literature

Narrative Medicine has emerged as a discipline from within the medical humanities and takes inspiration from philosophy, literature, poetry, art and social sciences theories. In particular, it is underpinned by philosophical approaches such as phenomenology, postmodernism and narratology, proposing that clinicians must attend to the lived experience of their patients and apply the science to the person. Meanwhile, the link between medicine and literature is evident in the growing volume of texts written about professionals', or lay people's experiences of illness and disease. In exploring this link further, Charon has contributed greatly to consolidate the theory of Narrative Medicine. She defines it as ‘medicine practiced with the narrative competencies to recognise, absorb, interpret and be moved by the stories of illness’. She suggests that, in exploring texts and reading them closely, one finds the tools of language such as metaphor, plot, character and temporality. She suggests that learning such skills enables clinicians to recognise that same language when it appears in clinical interaction practice. This ‘narrative competence’ can be fostered through education initiatives that particularly explore literature, creative and reflective writing, storytelling and poetry.