Narrative Medicine Program

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.

Commentary: A Sense of Story,
or Why Teach Reflective Writing

Narrative Medicine's Rita Charon and Nellie Hermann describe a reciprocal model of writing as discovery, suggesting that the writing itself is what teaches the skills of reflection. Equipping medical students with a sense of story may well be the active ingredient in whatever gains are observed in teaching reflective writing.
Click here to read the article

Can Literature Make a Better Doctor?

Could reading literature or writing memoirs help doctors be better caregivers? Proponents of the field of “narrative medicine” believe the humanities can prepare patients and physicians to deal with illness. NPR's Ira Flatow, and Narrative Medicine Creative Director, Nellie Hermann, discuss what stories might mean for the future of medical education and practice.
Click here to listen

The relationship between doctor and patient is among the most important many of us will have in their lives, yet it’s becoming increasingly depersonalized thanks to overwhelming patient loads. Narrative Medicine's Rita Charon, Nellie Hermann, and Kristin Slesar discuss how to produce better health outcomes on NPR's Where We Live.
Click here to listen

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	Home About Us People News Contact Programs Narrative Medicine Rounds Literature at Work Workshops Writing Seminars Education P&S Second Year Seminars P&S Fourth Year Elective Graduate Program Sponsored Projects Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation NIH R25 Arts in Medicine About Us Seminars Resources Media Wilma's Studio Resources Bibliography Links Columbia University Columbia University Medical Center School of Continuing Education	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.

			Graduate Program in Narrative Medicine Proud to be the first degree program of its kind, this important educational advance improves the quality of patient care and contributes to the healing of our ailing health care system itself. The program was named #1 of the "New Master's of the Universe" by the New York Times. Go to www.ce.columbia.edu/narrativemedicine to learn more about the Master of Science program, courses, faculty, and admissions. For further information, send an email to sma67@columbia.edu or call Continuing Education at 212-854-9699.

			Narrative Medicine Rounds Debra Litzelman, M.D. The Use of Stories in Changing an Academic Health Center's Culture: Indiana University School of Medicine as a Case Report Debra Litzelman serve as Professor of Medicine and the Associate Dean for Research in Medical Education at IUSM. She completed her Health Services Research (HSR) Fellowship training at the Regenstrief Institute (RGI) in 1989 and served as the HSR Fellowship Training program director from 2000-02 securing funding from HRSA to maintaining funding for the HSR training program during the 10-15 years of its existence. She has mentored over 15 post-doctoral fellows in HSR and in Medical Education Research most who have gone on to academic medicine careers. Dr. Litzelman is currently the PI on a second (through a competitive renewal) $1.5 million NIH Behavioral and Social Science Integrated Curricular Training grant for IUSM. She served as the co-PI on the Fetzer funded Relationship-centered Care Initiative (RCCI) directed at influencing and studying the impact of organizational change strategies on the professional learning environment of IUSM/IU Health System. She was an investigator on an internal IU Health Value's Education grant from 2006-08 to adapt the RCCI organizational change intervention to the IU Health System's patient care sites. Wednesday, March 7, 2012 5:00 - 7:00 pm Faculty Club of Columbia University Medical Center 630 W. 168th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10032 Rounds is free and open to the public.

			Literature at Work Literature@Work is a CUMC graduate-level literature seminar that meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (PH 9-East, Room 101). The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund De Waal December 7th: Part 1 ( pages 1 through 108) December 21st: Part 2 (pages 109 through 234) January 4th: Part 3 ( pages 235 to the end)

			Narrative Medicine Workshops Next Workshop: October 26-28, 2012 The Program in Narrative Medicine offers intensive small group three-day workshops for health care professionals and literary scholars engaged in narrative medicine practice. If you need further information, or want to be placed on the waiting list for future workshops, please contact: sma67@columbia.edu

			Commentary: A Sense of Story, or Why Teach Reflective Writing Narrative Medicine's Rita Charon and Nellie Hermann describe a reciprocal model of writing as discovery, suggesting that the writing itself is what teaches the skills of reflection. Equipping medical students with a sense of story may well be the active ingredient in whatever gains are observed in teaching reflective writing. Click here to read the article

			Can Literature Make a Better Doctor? Could reading literature or writing memoirs help doctors be better caregivers? Proponents of the field of “narrative medicine” believe the humanities can prepare patients and physicians to deal with illness. NPR's Ira Flatow, and Narrative Medicine Creative Director, Nellie Hermann, discuss what stories might mean for the future of medical education and practice. Click here to listen

		Where We Live	Putting Humanity Back in Medicine? The relationship between doctor and patient is among the most important many of us will have in their lives, yet it’s becoming increasingly depersonalized thanks to overwhelming patient loads. Narrative Medicine's Rita Charon, Nellie Hermann, and Kristin Slesar discuss how to produce better health outcomes on NPR's Where We Live. Click here to listen

		HELP SUPPORT OUR WORK Click here to make a gift to the Program in Narrative Medicine
		Rita Charon at TEDxAtlanta on September 13, 2011 The Program in Narrative Medicine presented Theater of War at the Miller Theatre on April 5, 2011


		The Program in Narrative Medicine 630 West 168th Street, PH9E-105 New York, NY 10032 Tel: 212-305-1952 \| Fax: 212-305-9349 Email: narrativemedicine@columbia.edu

Debra Litzelman, M.D.

Commentary: A Sense of Story, or Why Teach Reflective Writing

Commentary: A Sense of Story,
or Why Teach Reflective Writing