Physicians Literature and Medicine Group
Our program draws on concepts developed by proponents of Literature and Medicine and Narrative Medicine. Rita Charon, MD, PhD has elaborated many of the principles and practices we follow. The abstract from her article in JAMA (2001;286:1897-1902) captures the spirit of our program.
Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust
The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competence, that is, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence, called narrative medicine, is proposed as a model for humane and effective medical practice. Adopting methods such as close reading of literature and reflective writing allows narrative medicine to examine and illuminate 4 of medicine's central narrative situations: physician and patient, physician and self, physician and colleagues, and physicians and society. With narrative competence, physicians can reach and join their patients in illness, recognize their own personal journeys through medicine, acknowledge kinship with and duties toward other health care professionals, and inaugurate consequential discourse with the public about health care. By bridging the divides that separate physicians from patients, themselves, colleagues, and society, narrative medicine offers fresh opportunities for respectful, empathic, and nourishing medical care.
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Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief is a gothic adventure novel about a one-handed orphan boy who is "adopted" by a conman who puts the boy's disability to all kinds of nefarious uses. The story is set in hard-scrabble nineteenth-century New England and Tinti's style may remind readers of older authors like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. Medical professionals will be fascinated (and horrified) by the story's depiction of the nineteenth-century "resurrection" trade wherein thieves exhumed recently buried bodies and delivered them in dark of night to teaching hospitals in exchange for great sums of money. Despite all the gore and black humor, this is a heart-warming story with a loveable character at the center.
Copies of The Good Thief are available at the Kings English Bookstore: 1511 South. 1500 East, 484-9100 and also at the Health Sciences Book Store at the University of Utah, 581-3755
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| For more information about this program, call 408-1135. |
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* This activity is approved by the University of Utah for 1.5 CME credit hours. (See CME Statements and Disclosure below)
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* CME Statements and Disclosures
Accreditation: The University of Utah School of Medicine CME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Designation: The University of Utah School of Medicine designates this continuing medical education activity for a maximum of 1.5 credit hours in Category 1 of the Physician Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
Faculty Disclosure: The University of Utah adheres to ACCME Standards regarding industry support of continuing medical education, and disclosure of faculty and commercial sponsor relationships (if any) will be made known at the activity. Speakers are also expected to openly disclose inclusion of discussion of any off-label, experimental, or investigational use of drugs, devices, or equipment in their presentations.
ADA: The University of Utah complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing qualified individuals with disabilities access to University programs, services and activities. Reasonable prior notice is needed to arrange accommodations. Please call Natalie at 408-1135 to request an accommodation.
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