Narrative medicine

Kirmayer L.J.; Gómez-Carrillo A.; Sukhanova E.; Garrido E. · Person Centered Medicine (2023) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17650-0_14

Resumen

This chapter reviews the key principles of narrative medicine and its central importance for person-centered medical care. The last two decades have seen the emergence of narrative medicine as a complement to biomedical approaches. Narratives are the vehicles through which patients understand and communicate their health problems, past history, and current concerns. Clinicians, in turn, offer narrative accounts of the nature of symptoms and illness that make sense of patients' suffering, clarify its potential course and outcome, and provide a rationale for specific treatment interventions. Narrative medicine gives explicit attention to the ways that people convey their symptoms, predicaments and concerns and how the meaning of these experiences is interpreted and understood. Close reading or unpacking of the origins, meaning and significance of the narratives of patients and clinicians can inform person-centered care. Narrative understanding can contribute to more accurate and complete characterization of patients' needs, a stronger clinical alliance and more effective interventions. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023. All rights reserved.

Instituciones: Universidad Tecnológica de los Andes