Disclosure: Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
In the last few years all of us in medicine have been living through the story of our lives. The narrative has played out at the level of our cells, our immune systems, our families, our livelihoods, and our nations. Stories are fundamental to medicine; as we take a patient’s history, the word “story” is embedded in the word “history.” To quote Arnold Weinstein, “the brave picture we have of humans as rational beings is utterly misleading, a kind of photograph of our surface composure and thus unreflective of-- and unattuned to-- the seismic emotional and psychic reality underneath.” A broader understanding of archetypal narrative form and of literary works helps us find meaning in our work and illustrates its key elements, particularly the quiet heroism involved in simply showing up each day and in caring for patients, particularly those with rheumatologic illness where the relationship between physician and patient can be a very long and meaningful one.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the stresses in modern medicine and to reflect on our lived experiences
Explore the paradigm for our present narrative in ancient texts such as Gilgamesh and Beowulf and to explore narrative and story structure as it pertains to us
Consider how meaning and the nature of heroism can be extracted from human experiences on the scale of the present pandemic
Reflect on the physician-patient relationship particularly in the context of the specialty of rheumatology
