 |
 |
|
Home |
Current Issue |
Past Issues |
In the Clinic |
ACP Journal Club |
CME |
Collections |
Audio/Video |
Mobile |
Subscribe |
Tools |
Help |
ACP Online
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 April 1995 | Volume 122 Issue 8 | Pages 599-606
Introduced to U.S. medical schools in 1972, the field of literature and medicine contributes methods and texts that help physicians develop skills in the human dimensions of medical practice. Five broad goals are met by including the study of literature in medical education: 1) Literary accounts of illness can teach physicians concrete and powerful lessons about the lives of sick people; 2) great works of fiction about medicine enable physicians to recognize the power and implications of what they do; 3) through the study of narrative, the physician can better understand patients' stories of sickness and his or her own personal stake in medical practice; 4) literary study contributes to physicians' expertise in narrative ethics; and 5) literary theory offers new perspectives on the work and the genres of medicine. Particular texts and methods have been found to be well suited to the fulfillment of each of these goals. Chosen from the traditional literary canon and from among the works of contemporary and culturally diverse writers, novels, short stories, poetry, and drama can convey both the concrete particularity and the metaphorical richness of the predicaments of sick people and the challenges and rewards offered to their physicians. In more than 20 years of teaching literature to medical students and physicians, practitioners of literature and medicine have clarified its conceptual frameworks and have identified the means by which its studies strengthen the human competencies of doctoring, which are a central feature of the art of medicine.
Author and Article Information
From College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York. The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania. University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia. Northwestern University Medical School and the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois. University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
ACADEMIA AND CLINIC
Literature and Medicine: Contributions to Clinical Practice
Requests for Reprints: Rita Charon, MD, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, 622 West 168th Street, PH 9E, New York, NY 10032.
Grant Support: In part by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Faculty Scholar Award in General Internal Medicine (1989-1992; grant no. Kaiser CU50492001) awarded to Dr. Charon and the Kaiser Narrative-in-Medicine Circle, during whose meetings this paper was conceptualized and written.
Related articles in Annals:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  W. Foster and E. Freeman Poetry in general practice education: perceptions of learners Fam. Pract., June 27, 2008; (2008) cmn034v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. R. Rutherford and D. J. Hellerstein Divergent Fates of the Medical Humanities in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine: Should Psychiatry be Rehumanized? Acad Psychiatry, May 1, 2008; 32(3): 206 - 213. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Alcauskas and R. Charon Right Brain: Reading, writing, and reflecting: Making a case for narrative medicine in neurology Neurology, March 11, 2008; 70(11): 891 - 894. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Kuper The intersubjective and the intrasubjective in the patient physician dyad: implications for medical humanities education Med. Humanit., December 1, 2007; 33(2): 75 - 80. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J Coulehan Written role models in professionalism education Med. Humanit., December 1, 2007; 33(2): 106 - 109. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. R. Smith, J. R. Betancourt, M. K. Wynia, J. Bussey-Jones, V. E. Stone, C. O. Phillips, A. Fernandez, E. Jacobs, and J. Bowles Recommendations for Teaching about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care Ann Intern Med, November 6, 2007; 147(9): 654 - 665. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 F. D. Fraser Literature and medicine: Exploring Margaret Atwood's short story "Death by Landscape" Can Fam Physician, August 1, 2007; 53(8): 1280 - 1281. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Watson An extraordinary moment: The healing power of stories Can Fam Physician, August 1, 2007; 53(8): 1283 - 1287. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. C. Kontos and G. Naglie Expressions of Personhood in Alzheimer's Disease: An Evaluation of Research-Based Theatre as a Pedagogical Tool Qual Health Res, July 1, 2007; 17(6): 799 - 811. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. Wallang The use of literary analysis in advanced communication Psychiatr. Bull., November 1, 2006; 30(11): 432 - 434. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. Rousseau Introduction to Literature and Humanities American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, October 1, 2006; 23(5): 351 - 352. [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G Wolf Portrayal of negative qualities in a doctor as a potential teaching tool in medical ethics and humanism: Journey to the End of Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine Postgrad. Med. J., February 1, 2006; 82(964): 154 - 156. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Wilks Social Work and Narrative Ethics Br. J. Soc. Work, December 1, 2005; 35(8): 1249 - 1264. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. M. Wolpin, B. A. Chabner, T. J. Lynch Jr., and R. T. Penson Learning to Cope: How Far Is Too Close? Oncologist, June 1, 2005; 10(6): 449 - 456. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. A. Sakalys Restoring the Patient's Voice: The Therapeutics of Illness Narratives J Holist Nurs, September 1, 2003; 21(3): 228 - 241. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C Elliott and D Misselbrook Escape or instruction? A description of a seminar for general practitioners on literature and medicine Med. Humanit., June 1, 2002; 28(1): 53 - 54. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Verghese The Physician as Storyteller Ann Intern Med, December 4, 2001; 135(11): 1012 - 1017. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. M. Poses Narrative Medicine Ann Intern Med, November 20, 2001; 135(10): 929 - 930. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. Charon Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust JAMA, October 17, 2001; 286(15): 1897 - 1902. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. H. Jones Narrative based medicine: Narrative in medical ethics BMJ, January 23, 1999; 318(7178): 253 - 256. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. J. Tanenbaum Health Accounts and Communicative Power Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, January 1, 1997; 22(1): 223 - 230. [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. C. Horton Literature and Medicine: Contributions to Clinical Practice Ann Intern Med, December 15, 1995; 123(12): 965 - 965. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. M. Poses Literature and Medicine: Contributions to Clinical Practice Ann Intern Med, December 15, 1995; 123(12): 965 - 965. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Middleton, P. Sen, and J. R. Middleton Literature and Medicine: Contributions to Clinical Practice Ann Intern Med, December 15, 1995; 123(12): 965 - 966. [Full Text]
|
|
Article
