MS4 Catalog

Narrative Medicine - Healthcare is Human - Virtual

LOCATION: Online
PRECEPTOR: Dr. Andrea Labus, Dr. Ryan McCarthy & Renee Nicholson
DURATION: 2 week
OFFERED: Intermittently {Blocks 1-2, 5-6, 9-10}
MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 12 (WVU students only)
STATUS: Elective

OBJECTIVES:

Through this online course, students will learn about the important and emerging field of Narrative Medicine. Students will learn close reading, a fundamental skill of narrative medicine and create a final project. Students will view weekly short lectures, reflect on selected works, write responses, and use other creative outlets. Literature and artistic works will reflect artists in West Virginia and Appalachia.

Students will complete the course work in SOLE and meet with the group via Zoom. This course, though a 4 week electively, will occur longitudinally over an 8- week period with four bi-weekly modules. This will give adequate time for completion of SOLE modules, specifically watching lectures, spending time with required works, and providing written and creative outlets. There will be one required zoom session on the last week of the course to present the students’ final projects.

Patient Care:

  • Enhance patient care by responding to patients' needs with more empathy and compassion
  • Obtain a more effective history, focusing on the patient's primary concerns.
  • Identify cultural and socioeconomic factors contributing to management
  • Create a patient­ centric therapeutic plan
  • Develop a stronger therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient

Medical Knowledge:

  • Describe the role of using humanism, such as literature and art, and how this relates to patient care.

  • Define the foundation of narrative medicine, specifically close reading, and how that affects patients and their families, providers, and the healthcare system.

  • Explain the effects of understanding varying perspectives on the care of patients.

  • Practice the fundamental skill of narrative medicine as it applies to patient care.

Practice-Based Learning:

  • Students reflect on their own feelings and how they affect care they provide
  • Recognize limits of personal knowledge
  • Demonstrate lifelong learning techniques by developing reflective writing skills.

Communication Skills:

  • Attentively listen to patient's concerns.
  • Enhance therapeutic relationships with patients, family members, and healthcare team members.
  • Respect patients and families, peers, and administrative perspectives that may affect care
  • Use empathy to respond to perspectives that differ from student's

Professionalism:

  • Demonstrate respect, integrity and compassion to other people's opinions.
  • Demonstrate sensitivity to diverse patient population with respect to culture, age, gender, gender expression, gender identify, race, religion, disabilities, sexual orientation, veteran status, and
  • Demonstrate the qualities and practices to maintain personal wellness and resilience while pursuing professional growth over a lifetime.

Systems-Based Practice: 

  • Work collaboratively with healthcare professionals and demonstrate inter-professional collaboration to improve patient safety, outcomes and system performance.
  • Identify how understanding healthcare disparities in all settings specifically affects patients, populations and the healthcare system.

METHODS TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES:

  • Complete modules, including lectures, readings and artwork posted in SOLE that reflect the process and use of close reading.
  • Complete reflections of the assigned material and respond to classmate's work.
  • Creatively respond to reflective prompts written in the shadow of the work as well as reflect on classmate's responses.
  • Develop a final project (must be faculty approved); present project to group via Zoom.
  • Schedule and due dates for all components will be provided at outset of course.

EXAMINATION PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Formative Assessment: Written feedback from faculty to students on reflections

Summative Assessment: 

The Narrative Medicine Elective is a “pass/fail” elective. Students must successfully complete all four objectives within the syllabus to pass the elective. Students will receive weekly module feedback on SOLE assignments.

Student’s final project will be presented to and observed by the course directors (Dr. Labus, Dr McCarthy, Brandon Roos) at time of final presentation via Zoom.

Supervising faculty will complete a narrative e-valuation in e*Value. Narrative evaluation is based on the above competency objectives as determined by the course directors. Student’s reflections will be graded on effort and quality of the responses, not on content.

PRIOR TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE ROTATION:

Please contact Dr. Andrea Labus, alabus@hsc.wvu.edu at least 2 weeks before the start of the rotation.