Three Things to Do With Stories: Using Literature in Medical, Health Professions, and Interprofessional Education

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Education

Background:

• The phrase "literature and medicine" is widely recognized but lacks a clear, common definition in medical education.
• Literature is currently integrated into U.S. medical school curricula in various forms (stories, novels, poems, essays).

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore three theoretical and pedagogical uses of literature in medical, health professions, and interprofessional education.
• To demonstrate how these approaches can be applied in classroom settings using Sherman Alexie's story "Blankets".

Main Methods:

• Focuses on three pedagogical approaches: close reading, ethical/moral inquiry, and drawing illustrations from literary texts.
• Utilizes "Blankets" by Sherman Alexie to illustrate practical classroom application of these methods.
• Highlights the interconnectedness of these approaches, emphasizing close reading as foundational.

Main Results:

• Close reading involves careful, slow analysis to deepen textual understanding.
• Ethical inquiry uses literature to challenge readers' preconceptions and biases.
• Literature serves as a source for rich, illustrative depictions of phenomena.

Conclusions:

• Close reading is essential for meaningful ethical inquiry and illustration, sharing practices with skilled interprofessional caregiving.
• This skill, embracing ambiguity, aids students in developing ethical and compassionate judgment.
• Modeling close reading by faculty can effectively guide students in applying literary analysis to clinical reasoning.