Abstract
INTRODUCTION: How can residency programs help trainees address conflicting emotions about their professional roles and cultivate a curiosity about their patients’ lives beyond their diseases? We drew on the medical humanities to address these challenges by creating an intensive writing workshop for internal medicine residents.
AIM: To help participants become better physicians by reflecting on their experiences and on what gives meaning to work and life. This paper describes the workshop and how residents were affected by the focus on the craft of writing.
SETTING: A group of 15 residents from 3 training programs affiliated with 1 institution.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: We engaged the expertise of physician-writer Abraham Verghese in planning and facilitating the 2 and one-half day workshop. Residents’ submissions were discussed with a focus on the effectiveness of the writing. We also conducted a focus group with participants to evaluate the workshop.
PROGRAM EVALUATION: Themes in the writing included dysphoria, impotence of the physician, and the healing power of compassion. Our focus group data suggested that this workshop served as a creative outlet from the rigors of medicine, created a sense of community among participants, enhanced both self-awareness and awareness of their patients’ lives, and increased intra-institutional and extra-institutional interest in writing and the residency program.
DISCUSSION: Teaching creative writing to residents in an intensive workshop may deepen interactions with peers and patients, improve writing skills, and increase interest in writing and the residency program.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Collier V, McCue J, Markus A, Smith L. Stress in medical residency: status quo after a decade of reform? Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:384–90.
Shanafelt T, Bradley K, Wipf J, Back A. Burnout and self-reported patient care in an internal medicine residency program. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:358–67.
Daugherty S, DeWitt B, Rowley B. Learning, satisfaction, and mistreatment during medical internship. JAMA. 1998;279:1194–9.
Zola I. Structural constraints in the doctor-patient relationship: the case of non-compliance. In: Eisenberg L, Kleinman A, eds. The Relevance of Social Science for Medicine. Boston: Reidel Publishing Company; 1981:241–52.
Novack D, Suchman A, Clark W, Epstein R, Najberg E, Kaplan C. Calibrating the physician. Personal awareness and effective patient care. Working group on promoting physician personal awareness. American academy on physician and patient. JAMA. 1997;278:502–9.
Branch W, Suchman A. Meaningful experiences in medicine. Am J Med. 1990;88:56–9.
Brady D, Corbie-Smith G, Branch W. What’s important to you? The use of narratives to promote self-reflection and to understand the experiences of medical residents. Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:220–3.
Hatem D, Ferrara E. Becoming a doctor: fostering humane caregivers through creative writing. Patient Educ Couns. 2001;45:13–22.
Wilkinson J. Writing workshops for third-year residents. Family Med. 2004;36:478–9.
Branch W, Pels R, Lawrence R, Arky R. Becoming doctors: critical incident reports from third year medical students. N Engl J Med. 1993;329:1130–32.
Verghese A. The physician as storyteller. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:1012–7.
Charon R. Narrative medicine. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:862–4.
Scannell K. Writing for our lives: physician narratives and medical practice. Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:779–81.
Charon R. Narrative medicine: a model for empathy, reflection, profession, and trust. JAMA. 2001;286:1897–902.
DasGupta S, Charon R. Personal illness narratives: using reflective writing to teach empathy. Acad Med. 2004;79:351–6.
Bolton G. Stories at work: reflective writing for practitioners. Lancet. 1999;354:241–3.
Pennebaker JW. Telling stories: the health benefits of narrative. Lit Med. 2000;2000:3–18.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reisman, A.B., Hansen, H. & Rastegar, A. The craft of writing: A physician-writer’s workshop for resident physicians. J GEN INTERN MED 21, 1109–1111 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00550.x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00550.x