Reflective student narratives: honing professionalism and empathy

Abstract

The affective domain is not explicitly targeted during medical studies and poor skills in this domain may lead to conflict when dealing with patients. Reflective narratives are said to promote humanitarianism and professional development. We aimed to examine reflective narratives written by medical students in our institution for content relating to ethical and professional Attitude and Behaviour, Communication, respect for Diversity and Disability, and Empathy (the ABCDE paradigm). We were also interested in understanding how far the students enjoyed learning through the writing of narratives and in determining their perceived learning from the exercise. Volunteer medical students were introduced to Gibbs' reflective cycle during a half-day workshop. After giving written informed consent, they submitted anonymous reflective narratives (online), based on an interaction that they witnessed between a patient and a doctor/student. The authors performed directed content analysis of the submissions, using predetermined codes pertaining to ABCDE. At the end of the study, the participants sent in their feedback through a questionnaire on the process and the learning acquired, if any. Twenty-six students volunteered and 15 narratives were submitted. The issues that had been identified were discussed with the students. Feedback was submitted by 12 students, who strongly felt that the writing of narratives enhanced learning about ethics, professionalism, communication, diversity and empathy. We conclude that reflective student narratives are a useful and enjoyable way of teaching students about issues in the affective domain that are not conventionally taught.

Empathy variation of undergraduate medical students after early clinical contact: a cross-sectional study in China

“…Reflective narratives are a useful and enjoyable way to teach medical students about issues pertaining to empathy. 43 Empathy education should be emphasised as a key part of the early integration of patient contact into the curriculum, as it plays an important role in students' future doctor-patient relationships. 44 Other interesting results were that there were no significant differences between students of different sexes and in different academic years and there was no interaction (p=0.759) between these two factors.…”

Education in prosthetic and orthotic training

“…recognition of personal limitations, self-evaluation, and reflection skills) and patient evaluation skills more than technical skills. 19 Reflective writing 57 and effective communication have been endorsed to enhance emotional intelligence, particularly over the placement period, where caseload management in real life could be made with qualitative analysis, on-time feedback, and debriefing techniques. Internship portfolios can be useful tools for in-depth analyses of learning with the use of reflective writing to enhance clinical decision-making skills and academic performance.…”

Developing Humanistic Competencies Within the Competency-Based Curriculum

“…T he humanities being incorporated in medical education is a relatively newer concept in our country. There are various reasons that prompted the authorities to consider using the humanities in medical teaching: student burnout, mental health issues, and suicides; faculty and provider burnout; student anecdotes about faculty teaching by humiliation; provider-patient encounters resulting in miscommunication; missing empathy and poor communication skills; violence perpetrated by patients' relatives; and public displays by providers showing unprofessionalism and unethical behavior [1][2][3][4]. Clearly, conventional medical education methods were lacking a critical humanitarian element [5].…”

“…Informal opportunities may present themselves and should be exploited for initiatives to teach health humanities. We suggest the near-peer mentoring network, student cultural societies, lunch break, and Saturday afternoons to be used in a productive way to hone humanistic competencies [1][2][3]23,24]. In addition, together with students, faculty may explore how humanities may be used during early clinical exposure and self-directed learning hours.…”