Motivating change in resident language use through narrative medicine workshops

There are many ways that students and trainees learn to talk about patients. The way trainees and physicians use language during clinical care is important, as labeling patients can have adverse effects on patient safety. Communication is considered a core competency by The Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Past research has shown that participants in narrative medicine curricula report developing stronger communication skills however it is not clear how these workshops motivated trainees to use language differently during patient care. To explore this, we interviewed second-year residents in academic year 19-20 about their experiences both in participating in narrative medicine workshops and giving patient care.

The framing context for this constructivist thematic analysis is a series of narrative medicine workshops facilitated for interns in an internal medicine residency program at a large academic medical center during the 18-19 academic year. We developed a semi-structured interview study that allowed residents to reflect on their experiences in these workshops. Eighteen out of 60 residents (30%) were interviewed.

We found that sessions regarding language use in patient care shaped how interns thought about and used language during clinical work, a finding that arose spontaneously during interviews.

Our research suggests that workshops aimed specifically at addressing the use of language in healthcare can have meaningful impact on trainees. Our study makes a unique contribution to the scholarship by suggesting that training in narrative medicine can lead to a change in the way that trainees use language during their clinical work.