Narrative Medicine in COVID-19 Crisis!

Since studying Narrative Medicine, I have endeavored to share how it has opened new ways for me in seeing, learning, and practicing medicine.

I call it…

Reigniting the Art of Medicine, in the age of the electronic, digitized medical systems.

There is beauty in reading, poetry, art, stories, music, and film and it gives us the added depth  to the privilege of taking care of people in their illness. With stories of patients, providers in medical care I have learned that

Listening….

Reading ….

Observing….

Writing….

Feeling…..

encases us with the humanism we are losing in medicine.

Now that we are in a crisis and seeing the impact of this crisis not only in the added stress to our personal lives and professions, we are being bombarded literally with needs and demands.  We are in a survival mode, I say.

So does this “Narrative” or story of our patients, families, providers matter anymore ?

Now that contact time and how we touch and feel our patients is put to question?

We gown up,

 We mask,

We communicate behind screens, phones, and online portals.

We are now even more removed.

Humanism in medicine?

The dichotomy of surviving a human catastrophe and being a compassionate caring provider are clashing.

I pray we can take this as temporary state of mind.

I hope.

 I  feel all of what we do in terms of academic teaching, better care, patients experience, and wellness is put to question.

I write this and I realize, this is what was bothering me as I was about to start my Teaching Scholarship Weekly session as an academic teaching faculty.

Yet, as soon as the online class started, I left that harrowing world of fears and concerns of COVID-19! COVID-19!

And forgot for this brief interlude of time that I am in a space where we are able to think and appreciate the work we are doing.

The time spent with some fellow like-minded providers.

Maybe the learning paradigm is changing and changing  rapidly.

We will still need to teach and learn still  through this crisis,

Support ourselves in this crisis, support each other.

The narrative of clinical care has changed, but not lost.

Humanity remains within us.