From Patient to Future Doctor: Autobiographical Scenes, Narratives and Humanistic Training in Medicine

Abstract

This article intends to reread, analyze and resignify a series of narrations produced by medical students. Such accounts were written during the “Doctors and Narratives” workshop of the Culture and Society I class, in the first year of the Premedical Stage of Medical School at CEMIC University Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2010. The purpose is to suggest some hypotheses that will guide the design of new mechanisms for training and action research, in order to keep building knowledge regarding the contributions that working with narratives can offer in the training of health professionals (in the initial stages and thereafter). By “narratives” we mean the use of stories from different sources (literature, oral tradition, autobiographical production) whether written or oral, to reflect upon the effect the use of language has in the practice of medicine and the role those accounts play in constructing personal and professional identity.