“What's Important to You?”: The Use of Narratives To Promote Self-Reflection and To Understand the Experiences of Medical Residents
Authors: Donald W. Brady, Giselle Corbie-Smith, William T. Branch
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2002)

Medical Writings6 August 2002“What's Important to You?”: The Use of Narratives To Promote Self-Reflection and To Understand the Experiences of Medical ResidentsDonald W. Brady, MD, Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, and William T. Branch Jr., MDDonald W. Brady, MDFrom Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303Search for more papers by this author, Giselle Corbie-Smith, MDFrom Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303Search for more papers by this author, and William T. Branch Jr., MDFrom Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-137-3-200208060-00025 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Too often we hear housestaff speak of residency training as a “test of survival”—getting through the next 3 years so that they may get on with their “real” careers. However, we as faculty physicians know that these years of training are not lived in a vacuum but are inextricably interwoven into the fabric of residents' personal and professional lives. Their experiences—both the highs and the lows—will profoundly influence them as future physicians. For example, when a resident attends to a patient who is dying, how he or she processes that experience will bear markedly on how that resident will react ...References1. Branch W, Pels RJ, Lawrence RS, Arky R. Becoming a doctor. Critical-incident reports from third-year medical students. N Engl J Med. 1993;329:1130-2. [PMID: 8371749] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Hupert N, Pels RJ, Branch WT. Learning the art of doctoring: use of critical incident reports. Harvard Student BMJ. 1995;3:99-100. Google Scholar3. Branch WT, Pels RJ, Harper G, Calkins D, Forrow L, Mandell F, et al . A new educational approach for supporting the professional development of third-year medical students. 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[PMID: 1765874] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar11. Novack DH, Suchman AL, Clark W, Epstein RM, Najberg E, Kaplan C. Calibrating the physician. Personal awareness and effective patient care. Working Group on Promoting Physician Personal Awareness, American Academy on Physician and Patient. JAMA. 1997;278:502-9. [PMID: 9256226] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar12. Novack DH, Epstein RM, Paulsen RH. Toward creating physician-healers: fostering medical students' self-awareness, personal growth, and well-being. Acad Med. 1999;74:516-20. [PMID: 10353283] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar13. Branch WT Jr. Professional and moral development in medical students: the ethics of caring for patients. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1998; 109:218-29; discussion 229-30. [PMID: 9601140] Google Scholar14. Branch WT. The ethics of caring and medical education. Acad Med. 2000;75:127-32. [PMID: 10693842] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar15. Mezirow J. How critical reflection triggers transformative learning.. 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Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303Acknowledgments: The authors greatly appreciate the participation of all the internal medicine-primary care residents at Emory University and their continued efforts to become self-reflective, compassionate physicians.Corresponding Author: Donald W. Brady, MD, 69 Butler Street SE, Atlanta, GA 30303; e-mail, [email protected]edu.Current Author Addresses: Drs. Brady and Branch: 69 Butler Street, SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.Dr. Corbie-Smith: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Medical School, Wing D, CB#7240, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7240. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byUnderstanding the lived experiences of medical learners in a narrative medicine course: a phenomenological studyHow does narrative medicine impact medical trainees’ learning of professionalism? 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