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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Narrative palliative care: a method for building empathy
Patricia Stanley1, Marsha Hurst
1Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. patstan@optonline.net
Abstract:
We make meaning of illness, suffering, and death through narrative, by telling a story. In this article, the authors explore narrative and palliative care: how, at the end of life, narratives of patients, caregivers, and clinicians serve to connect to those still living, and how through each telling and listening, we honor and validate the experience of suffering. A discussion of narrative competence and the skills of attention, representation, and affiliation is followed by an outline of the format for a narrative medicine workshop and a detailed analysis of an experiential exercise in close reading and reflective writing.
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