Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Narrative medicine in a hectic schedule

  • Scientific Contribution
  • Published:
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The move to patient-centered medical practice is important for providing relevant and sustainable health care. Narrative medicine, for example, suggests that patients should be involved significantly in diagnosis and treatment. In order to understand the meaning of symptoms and interventions, therefore, physicians must enter the life worlds of patients. But physicians face high patient loads and limited time for extended consultations. In current medical practice, then, is narrative medicine possible? We argue that engaging patient perspectives in the medical visit does not necessarily require a lengthy interview. Instead, a new orientation to this process that emphasizes dialogue between practitioners and patients should be considered. In this new model, the purpose of the visit is to communicate successfully and develop a mutual understanding of illness and care.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aho, James. 2008. Body matters: A phenomenology of sickness, disease, and illness. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altschuler, Justin, David Margolius, Thomas Bodenheimer, and Kevin Grumbach. 2012. Estimating a reasonable patient panel size for primary care physicians with team-based task delegation. Annals of Family Medicine 10(5): 396–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, Roland. 1986. The rustle of language. NY: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, Roland. 1987. Criticism and truth. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The social construction of reality. NY: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buber, Martin. 1970. I and Thou. NY: Scribner Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrothers, Robert M., Standford W. Gregory Jr., and Timothy J. Gallagher. 2000. Measuring emotional intelligence of medical school applicants. Academic Medicine 75(5): 456–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charon, Rita. 2006. Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness. NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charon, Rita. 2007. What to do with stories: The science of narrative medicine. Canadian Family Physician 53(8): 1265–1267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chung, M.Kyle. 2002. Tuning-up your patient schedule. Family Practice Management 9(1): 41–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, Peter, and Kristin Barker. 2010. The social construction of illness key insights and policy implications. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 51(1): S67–S79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Karen, Stephen C. Schoenbaum, and Anne-Marie Audet. 2005. A 20/20 vision of patient-centered primary care. Journal of General Internal Medicine 20(10): 953–957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugdale, David C., Ronald Epstein, and Steven Z. Pantilat. 1999. Time and the patient–physician relationship. Journal of General Internal Medicine 1(14): 34–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engel, John D., Joseph Zarconi, and Lura Pethtel. 2008. Narrative in health care: Patients, practitioners, profession, and community. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fals-Borda, Orlando. 1988. Knowledge and people’s power. NY: New Horizons Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, Paul, Jim Yong Kim, Arthur Kleinman, and Matthew Basilico. 2013. Reimagining Global Health. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foss, Lawrence. 2002. The end of modern medicine. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 1989. Truth and method. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, Howard. 2006. Multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellert, George A., Ricardo Ramirez, and Luke S. Webster. 2015. The rise of the medical scribe industry: Implications for the advancement of electronic health records. Journal of the American Medical Association 313(13): 1315–1316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groopman, Jerome. 2007. How doctors think. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gude, Tore, Per Vaglum, Tor Anvik, Anders Baerheim, and Hilde Grimstad. 2013. A few more minutes make a difference? The relationship between content and length of GP consultations. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care 31: 31–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halfon, Neal, Gregory D. Stevens, Kandyce Larson, and Lynn M. Olson. 2011. Duration of a well-child visit: Association with content, family-centeredness, and satisfaction. Pediatrics 128(4): 657–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute of Medicine. 2001. “Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century.” March report. https://iom.nationalacademies.org/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm/Quality%20Chasm%202001%20%20report%20brief.pdf.

  • Kleinman, Athur. 1988. The illness narrative. NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leder, Drew. 1992. The body in medical thought and practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, Wendy, Cara S. Lesser, and Ronald M. Epstein. 2010. Developing physician communication skills for patient-centered care. Health Affairs 29(7): 1310–1318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Libbrecht, Nele, Filip Lievens, Bernd Carette, and Stephane Cote. 2014. Emotional intelligence predicts success in medical school. Emotion 14(1): 64–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowes, Robert L. 1989. Are you expected to see too many patients? Family Practice 72(6): 130–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mechanic, David, Donna D. McAlpine, and Marsha Rosenthal. 2001. Are patients’ office visits with physicians getting shorter? New England Journal of Medicine 344: 198–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1968. The visible and the invisible. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migongo, Alice W., Richard Charnigo, Margaret M. Love, Richard Kryscio, Steven T. Fleming, and Kevin A. Pearce. 2012. Factors relating to patient visit time with a physician. Medical Decision Making 32(1): 93–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, Elliot G. 1985. The discourse of medicine: The dialectics of medical interviews. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, Gordon L., and John H. Wasson. 2007. The ideal medical practice model: Improving efficiency, quality, and the doctor–patient relationship. Family Practice Management 14(8): 20–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley, Ann S. 2011. Tapping the unmet potential of health information technology. New England Journal of Medicine 364: 1090–1091.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelzang, Rinchen. 2010. Time to learn: Understanding patient-centered care. British Journal of Nursing 19(14): 912–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades, Donna R., Kay F. McFarland, W. Holmes Finch, and Andrew O. Johnson. 2001. Speaking and interrupting during primary care office visits. Family Medicine 33(7): 528–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, Harvey. 1984. Notes on methodology. In Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis, ed. J.M. Atkinson, and J. Heritage, 21–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salovey, Peter, and John D. Mayer. 1990. Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality 9: 185–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoen, Cathy, Michelle M. Doty, Ruth Robertson, and Sara R. Collins. 2011. Affordable Care Act reforms could reduce the number of underinsured US adults by 70 percent. Health Affairs 30(9): 1762–1771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, Peggy J., Ginger C. Moseley, Michael M. Grant, Jonathan R. Gore, and Christopher Owens. 2002. Physicians’ emotional intelligence and patient satisfaction. Family Medicine 34(10): 750–754.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and society, vol. 1. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, Andrew, and Susan Childs. 2002. The relationship between consultation length, process and outcomes in general practice: A systematic review. British Journal of General Practice 52(485): 1012–1020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarnall, Kimberly S.H., Truls Østbye, Katrina M. Krause, Kathryn I. Pollak, Margaret Gradison, and J. Lloyd Michener. 2009. Family physicians as team leaders: ‘Time’ to share the care. Preventing Chronic Disease 6(2): 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami, 5202 University Drive, Merrick Building, Room 121E, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    John W. Murphy

  2. Ohio University, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Grosvenor 311, Athens, OH, USA

    Berkeley A. Franz

Authors
  1. John W. Murphy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Berkeley A. Franz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John W. Murphy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Murphy, J.W., Franz, B.A. Narrative medicine in a hectic schedule. Med Health Care and Philos 19, 545–551 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-016-9718-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-016-9718-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation