A Resident Narrative Medicine Curriculum to Promote Professional Identity Development: Story-Based Sessions Grounded...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physician Well-being
• Narrative Medicine

Background:

• Empathy and social connectedness are vital for physician identity but are threatened by burnout.
• Humanities-based interventions, such as narrative medicine (NM), are gaining traction in medical education.
• Current NM initiatives often lack focus on graduate medical learners and exhibit inconsistent theoretical underpinnings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate narrative medicine (NM) sessions for internal medicine-primary care residents.
• To foster healthy physician identity development, enhance reflection, and promote social connectedness.
• To address the underrepresentation of graduate medical learners in NM interventions.

Main Methods:

• Ninety-minute NM sessions were integrated into the curricula for PGY 1-3 residents at two academic centers.
• Sessions utilized narrative sources (stories, poems, art), personal reflection, and group discussion on topics like burnout and challenging patient encounters.
• Anonymous post-session surveys assessed participant satisfaction, attitudes, and perceived skill development.

Main Results:

• Fifteen sessions were conducted between 2021 and 2023, with 50 residents participating.
• A high response rate (88%) was achieved, with over 95% of participants reporting a high overall impression and personal value.
• Sessions received high enjoyment ratings and demonstrated mean scores above 4/5 for impact on wellness, work values, social connectedness, and patient care.

Conclusions:

• Narrative medicine sessions show potential for improving resident wellness, job satisfaction, and patient care.
• These interventions foster camaraderie and aid in emotion processing, contributing to healthy identity formation in physicians.
• The developed NM materials offer a promising approach for supporting graduate medical learners.