Learning the Patient's Story

Abstract

Objectives: To provide a brief history on narrative medicine and highlight its importance in providing quality patient care.

Data sources: Explains narrative medicine using published, peer-reviewed literature and highlights some of the literary, medical, sociological, and communication perspectives that contributed to the narrative medicine movement.

Conclusion: A commitment to the patient-provider relationship and knowing the patient's story is a critical aspect in providing quality cancer care.

Implications for nursing practice: Teaching oncology nurses skills that are grounded in narrative medicine will improve health care by increasing the nurses' knowledge of their patients and strengthening the nurse-patient relationship.

Keywords: narrative medicine; patient's story; patient-centered medicine; reflective journaling.