Narrative Medicine Logo
Mission Statement:
Narrative Medicine fortifies clinical practice with the narrative competence to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness. Through narrative training, the Program in Narrative Medicine helps doctors, nurses, social workers, and therapists to improve the effectiveness of care by developing the capacity for attention, reflection, representation, and affiliation with patients and colleagues. Our research and outreach missions are conceptualizing, evaluating, and spear-heading these ideas and practices nationally and internationally.



Narrative Medicine Workshop Venice Italy 20th-22nd September 2009 Cassiano Institute March 26-28 2010 at Columbia University, New York, NY

The effective care of the sick requires deep and singular knowledge of the patient, competence and commitment of the physician, and a
sturdy bond of trust between the two. Despite the many sociocultural and professional factors that may divide doctors and patients and the
impact of political and economic pressures on health care as a whole, effective medical practice needs to replace hurried and impersonal
care with careful listening, empathic attention, and personal fidelity. Narrative medicine is one cost-effective and evidence-based method to
equip health care professionals with the skills needed to respond to the challenge. By fortifying clinical practice with the ability to recognize,
absorb, interpret, and be moved by stories of illness, narrative training enables practitioners to comprehend patients’ experiences and to
understand what they themselves undergo as clinicians. Professionalism, cultural competence, bioethical competence, interpersonal
communication skills, self-reflective practice, and ability to work with health care teams can be strengthened by increasing narrative
competence.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES:
These intensive workshops, reserved for 40 participants, will offer rigorous skill-building in narrative competence. Participants will learn effective
techniques for attentive listening, adopting others’ perspectives, accurate representation, and reflective reasoning. Plenary sessions will
focus on reconceptualizing empathy, narrative ethics, bearing witness, and illness narratives.


Small group seminars will offer firsthand experience in close reading, reflective writing, and autobiographical exercises. Participants will
receive a packet of readings prior to the conference that will include seminar articles in the field of narrative medicine by leading educators. The target audience is physicians and other health care professionals and scholars interested in Narrative Medicine.

Power remains in the basics of attentive listening, close reading and reflective writing. The Narrative Medicine Workshop offers an exceptional
opportunity to learn and practice these tools with intensity, guidance and expertise. This is a unique setting that will engage you in a multidimensional
learning process. During the workshops you will closely examine the interweave between illness, the personal lives of patients and the interplay of your
role. Narrative medicine offers the opportunity for telling and witnessing that reveals the psychological, emotional, sociocultural and political context to
expose the deepest roots of illness - this enables medicine with tools to heal if not cure.

---Katherine Ellington (Narrative Medicine Workshop, May 2006)

PARTICIPANTS WILL:

  • develop the narrative competence to nourish empathic doctor-patient relationships
  • learn narrative communication strategies for patient-centred and life-framed practice
  • build habits of reflective practice that enhance professionalism and nurture clinical communities
  • acquire pedagogic skills to teach methods of narrative medicine
  • replace isolation with affiliation, cultivate enduring collegial alliances, and reveal meaning in clinical practice

Held in the Department of Continuing Education at Columbia University these weekends will provide opportunities for individual consultations with faculty, shared
meals, informal social gatherings, and access to the cultural offerings of New York City.

 

FACULTY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:

Rita Charon, M.D., PhD. Professor of Clinical Medicine, author of Narrative Medicine: Honoring Stories of Illness.

Sayantani DasGupta, M.D., M.P.H. Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, editor of Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write their Bodies.

 

Marsha Hurst, Ph.D. Director, Master in Narrative Medicine, editor of Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write their Bodies.

 

Craig Irvine, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Behavioral Science in the Center for Family Medicine, author of The Other Side of Silence: Levinas, Medicine and Literature.

 

Maura Spiegel, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, editor of The Grim Reader: Writings on Death, Dying, and Living On.

GUEST FACULTY:

 

Patricia Stanley, M.A. Patient Advocate, author of The Patient’s Voice.

 

ACCREDITATION:

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

DESIGNATION:

The College of Physicians and Surgeons designates the educational activity for a maximum of 13.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. The program has been planned and produced in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

 

REGISTRATION:

Tuition (includes syllabus, meals, and literary readings)

is $750 for income over $100,000 and $650 for income under $100,000

LOCATION:

All plenary and small group sessions will take place in the School of Continuing Education

conference rooms at Columbia University

Columbia University

School of Continuing Education

Lewisohn Hall

2970 Broadway (at 116th Street)

New York, NY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Craig Irvine, Ph.D.

646-418-5908

ci44@columbia.edu


2010 Narrative Medicine Spring Workshop Schedule

March 26-28, 2010

FRIDAY

2:00    Registration

2:15    Welcome

           Craig Irvine, Ph.D.

2:30     Narrative Medicine: Methods for Improving Clinical Effectiveness

             Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D.

3:45      Narrative Medicine: The Voice of the Patient

              Patricia Stanley, M.A.

4:15      Participant Introductions

5:00      Small Group Seminars:

              Clinical Cases from Narrative Medicine

6:00      Adjournment

6:30      Cocktail Reception & Dinner

SATURDAY

8:30      Continental Breakfast

9:00      Reconceptualizing Empathy

              Maura Spiegel, Ph.D.

10:15    Refreshment Break

10:30    Small Group Seminars:

              Close Reading: Training for Attentive Listening

12:00    Adjournment

12:30    Lunch

2:00       Narrative Ethics: New Clinical Approaches

              Craig Irvine, Ph.D.

3:15       Refreshment Break

3:30       Small Group Seminars:

              Narrative Writing From Practice:

              Enlarging The Clinical Fund Of Knowledge Through Representation

5:00      Adjournment

5:30      Cocktail Reception

SUNDAY

8:30      Continental Breakfast

9:00       Illness Narratives

              Sayantani DasGupta, M.D., M.P.H.

10:15    Refreshment Break

10:30    Small Group Seminars:

              Narrative Interviewing: How to Elicit the Full Stories of Illness

12:00    Adjournment

12:30    Lunch

1:30      Actionable narratives:  From the clinical to the political

              Marsha Hurst, Ph.D.

2:45      Refreshment Break

3:00      Small Group Seminars:

             Illness Narratives: The Skills of Bearing Witness to the Suffering of Others

4:30      Adjournment


Program in Narrative Medicine
630 West 168th Street PH 9-East Room 105 New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212.305.4975 Fax: 212.305.9349

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