Medical narratives and the teaching of communication in context

Abstract

The use of narrative for teaching has power and validity. The medical curriculum lends itself well to a narrative approach, given the tradition of story-telling in medicine, and the ability of an individual story to act as the starting-point for problem-based study. The course reported here builds on these narrative traditions to teach medical communication skills and to illustrate some common problems encountered in primary care. The paper reports on the dramatization over four sessions of the stories of a young couple who separately seek medical advice. One is a young woman seeking the 'morning after pill', the other a young man-the partner of the woman, though students do not know this-presenting with a urethral discharge. The couple are played by professional role-players who interact with second-year students playing the doctor. Students are given extensive notes on the presenting issues, and on how they might be managed.