What can we learn from narratives in medical education?

Abstract

Medical literature has demonstrated the effectiveness of narrative writing in enhancing self-reflection and empathy, which opens the door for deeper understanding of patients' experiences of illness. Similarly, it promotes practitioner well-being. Therefore, it is no surprise that narrative writing finds a new home in medical education. The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), through its Outcome Project, established six core competencies that every residency program must teach. However, no specific pedagogies were suggested. We explored the role that narrative writing can play in reconciling the ACGME core competencies with daily encounters in medical education. Our study suggests a hidden wealth in reflective writing through narratives with a promising potential for application in medical education. Reflective writing may turn out to be an innovative tool for teaching and evaluating ACGME core competencies.

Figure 1.

Thirty-three narratives were analyzed for the number of Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education core competencies addressed. The maximum possible was 6. The median was 4.