Providence College journal helps students reflect on their healthcare experiences to enhance their future careers in medicine. “Telling stories of illness is the attempt, instigated by the body's disease, to give a voice to an experience that medicine cannot describe,” Arthur W. Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics,
Demiana, a second-year health science major at Providence College in Rhode Island, remembers the angst of her teen years when every time she looked in a mirror, “all I saw was my acne. I felt it defined me.” School dances and events were a nightmare, she shares. For the first time she was filled with hope when a friend referred her to a dermatologist.
Instead of being prescribed a boost of self-confidence, the office visit “was traumatizing.”
“The doctor barely looked at me, spoke in complex medical terms, and didn’t answer my questions," Demiana says.
Demiana shares her experience in Narrative Medicine: Essays on Health and Care, a new online journal published by Providence College health science students.
Her experience is not an isolated one. It underscores how the healthcare system, often viewed through a clinical lens, can miss the deeply personal and human element that shapes a patient's journey. Demiana and a group of Providence College students shared their profoundly personal and reflective healthcare experiences through a new online journal. What began as an innovative writing project evolved into a journal sponsored by the Providence School of Nursing and Health Sciences and published by the Phillips Memorial Library’s Digital Commons.
A New Platform for Health Science Students’ Stories
The journal, published twice a year, seeks to “bridge the gap between the often-impersonal nature of clinical practice and the deeply personal experiences of illness and healing,” said Bob Hackey, Ph.D., professor of health sciences. Hackey invited students to publish their stories of illness and of receiving and providing care, highlighting the pitfalls and promise of the U.S. healthcare system.
One of the goals is to reinforce how blending healthcare with storytelling can bring empathy and humanity back into the medical field, says Hackey. “Telling stories of illness gives an embodied voice to an experience that cannot be expressed in other ways.”
“In an era where new technologies and data-driven approaches dominate the healthcare landscape, narrative medicine serves as a vital reminder that medicine is, at its core, a deeply human endeavor,” says Hackey.
He hopes that by learning how to share their own patient stories, students will gain ‘narrative competence’ and become better clinicians in their careers.
Hackey, who serves as co-editor, was inspired to weave storytelling into his health science courses after a sabbatical leave at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy in 2014. With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities he co-produced Ajax, a Greek play by Sophocles, for a series of performances around the state of Rhode Island to highlight the emotional toll of war on returning soldiers. This program built upon the Pell Center’s Story in the Public Square initiative that highlighted the power of storytelling to frame public policy problems.
— Bob Hackey, Ph.D., Professor of Health Sciences
Personal Healthcare Journeys Spark Empathy
In the Fall of 2023, Hackey offered a new honors colloquium on the practice of medicine. In addition to writing a traditional research paper, he asked students to write a personal reflection on an experience they’d had with the health care system as a patient, provider, or family member. “Everyone has a healthcare story and I realized that our students also have powerful health experiences to share,” says Hackey. “In classic Rhode Island style, I tapped into the ‘I know a guy who knows a guy,’ and we started collaborating with the college’s writing center.
He reached out to Will Toner, assistant dean of student academic success and director of peer education in PC’s Writing Center, to enlist his support. The writing center provided embedded fellows to work with students in the honors colloquium to help students brainstorm ideas, frame their narratives, and revise their work. From the beginning, the students were willing to share deeply personal and highly impactful stories of their vulnerability when they experienced illness or witnessed a family member. As a faculty member I was deeply humbled.”
Guest Physician Lectures Enrich the Narrative Medicine Experience
In addition to offering writing tutor services to support the student authors, Toner enlisted the help of his friend Michael Stout, M.D., an emergency medicine physician and faculty member at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC.
Dr. Stout joined the team met with students in person over the course of the semester, describing his own experiences and stories from the frontlines of the ER.
“I shared some of my own stories and they asked questions about getting into medical school or what I do to relate to patients,” says Dr. Stout. “I’ve been writing some of my own reflections that have happened and understand how powerful medical narratives can be. I think a lot happens between the writer and the reader and have found myself writing about times when I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe I said that to a patient.’ I think it is very effective for students to understand the heart of stories in medicine.”
Dr. Stout said that by weaving personal stories into their academic work, the students are learning to see patients as more than just their symptoms. This exercise helps them develop empathy, enhance their communication skills, and sharpen their ability to reflect critically on the healthcare system.
A Journal Is Born
Hackey offered a new version of the course for first year health sciences students the following semester, and once again, found that students embraced the opportunity to share their stories. After reviewing the students' work, he approached Megan Lessard, head of digital projects and metadata in the college’s Phillips Memorial Library, to see if the library could post the students’ essays online. After reviewing the submissions, Lessard suggested that the quality and cohesiveness of the essays could be the basis for an online journal. Soon, she joined the initiative as a design editor for the new journal, which is an open educational resource free and accessible to anyone, anywhere.
Vanessa, a first-year health sciences student, wrote about her family’s experiences as non-native English speakers during the diagnosis of her childhood illness in “Language Barriers and the Quality of Care” An aspiring physician, she wants to raise the voices of children of immigrant parents.
“I knew my experience wasn’t uncommon, but no one talked about it,” she says.. “That is what inspired me to write and share my narrative, to allow other Latino kids to acknowledge that they are not alone in these experiences and that a change in the American healthcare system is needed for all patients to receive quality care no matter what their first language is.”
“These deeply personal stories have the power to help so many people,” says Lessard. “That’s why we felt it was so important to make them accessible to the widest possible audience. For me, reading their stories caused me to really reflect on the experiences I’ve had with my own grandparents. We hope this will encourage more journaling and hopefully when the students become medical providers, they will have the skills to reflect on their experiences and become more compassionate carers.”
Narrative Mindworks Questionnaire
Megan Lessard, head of digital projects and metadata in the Phillips Memorial Library, joined the initiative as a design editor.
1. What is your definition of Narrative Medicine or Narrative Practice?
My approach to Narrative Practice is rooted in creativity rather than medical frameworks. With over 25 years of experience as a trained photographer, I have been dedicated to capturing stories through my camera. As an information professional in the library, my goal is to ensure that people’s stories are preserved and shared in their own words, if possible, as they are always the most authentic and powerful. This way, future generations can truly learn from them.
2. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Sitting outside on a warm day in the garden on a comfy chair with a good book and cold drink
3. Describe yourself in six words.
Creative, thoughtful, collaborative, organized, curious, empathetic
4. What are you most grateful for?
My family, my friends, and the person who invented nachos
5. What’s next on your bucket list?
Graduating with my master’s degree! I’ll hopefully be graduating in the Spring with my Master of Education in Higher Education.
Narrative Mindworks Questionnaire
Bob Hackey, professor of health sciences, is the author and co-editor of four books on health policy and the co-editor of Narrative Medicine.
1. What is your definition of Narrative Medicine or Narrative Practice?
Storytelling is a fundamental part of being human. Medicine is increasingly data-driven, but it remains a deeply human endeavor. Sharing stories of health and health care highlights not only what’s working and what’s not, but reminds us all that in the end, health care is about CARE.
2. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Riding my bike on a beautiful day taking in the beauty of nature.
3. Describe yourself in six words.
Creative, critical, curious, engaged, innovative, and a teacher
4. What are you most grateful for?
My wife and kids, and my big fat cat.
5. What’s next on your bucket list?
I love conducting research with my students. This spring, I’ll be working on a new project analyzing the mission statements of PA programs in the US with a wonderful team of student researchers.
