Narrative medicine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Narrative Medicine connotes a medicine practiced with narrative competence and marked with an understanding of the highly complex narrative situations among doctors, patients, colleagues, and the public (Dr. Charon, Narrative Medicine).

1 History
2 Obstacles
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Since the 1970s Western medicine has fallen victim to the professionalism movement. Many medical schools and residency programs train physicians as objects. As of late 1990s physians like Rachael Niomi Remen, and Rita Charon have emphasized that medical practice should be structured around the narraive.

Sick need people who can understand their diseases, treat their medical problems, and accompany them through their illnesses (Dr. Charon, Narrative Medicine)

In order to reach this level of medical care, physicians should practice narrative medicine.

[edit] Obstacles

As Remen notes,

People who are physicians have been trained to believe, that it is a scientific objectivity that makes them most effective in their efforts to understand and resolve the pain that others bring them, and a mental distance that protects them from becoming wounded from this difficult work. (Remen, 1978)

Through courses that emphasize anatomy and chemistry, often, the body becomes treated as an object.