Global Perspectives on Probing Narratives in Healthcare

Book excerpt: There is often a communication disconnect between medical caregivers, including doctors, nurses, therapists, and other assistive medical personnel, and the patient. While medical staff usually understand a patient’s symptoms, causes, and treatments, communicating this understanding to a patient using industry terminologies can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, and similarly, patients may lack the vocabulary to effectively communicate their experiences back to their caregivers. A new approach to communication must be bridged between these groups by individuals who have experience on both sides of the conversation. Previous studies of doctors who end up in the role of the patient reveal how these individuals have a dual perspective on illness, combining their medical knowledge with their own personal medical experiences. Narratives, including autobiographical accounts and fictional stories, can help bridge the gap between experiential and academic knowledge of illness by expanding one’s limited perspective and accessing others’ points of view. Autobiographical and fictional narratives can both play a role in developing a more comprehensive understanding of illness beyond simply treating the disease. It is necessary to further examine the ethical and methodological underpinnings of narrative-based interventions in the education of healthcare professionals, practitioners, and patients. Global Perspectives on Probing Narratives in Healthcare offers a multidisciplinary examination of theoretical and methodological uses of narratives in healthcare by bringing together medical aspects of healthcare and the study of arts and humanities. This illustrates specific applications of narratives in healthcare settings, including improvement of clinical skills, performance of the caring role, and self-efficacy for building a true partnership in the patient’s health journey through varied approaches, up-to-date tools, and resources that can be transferred and adapted to specific educational and healthcare contexts. This diverse collection of expert knowledge and experience is led by editors with over 20 years of teaching experience: Dr. Teresa Casal of the University of Lisbon, Portugal and Dr. Maria de Jesus Cabral of the University of Minho, Portugal. Expertise featured in this book includes contributions from some of the most prestigious academic institutions, including Columbia University in the United States, King’s College in the United Kingdom, University of Padua in Italy, and more. It is an essential resource for healthcare and social science researchers, academics, advanced healthcare students, health training and education departments, healthcare practitioners and patients’ associations, and policymakers in healthcare who are looking to broaden their scope of understanding of the patient experience.