Narrative paintings, narrative medicine: Art in the medical humanities curriculum

Narrative is the most important underlying ingredient in a successful doctor-patient encounter. The patient's story provides an attentive listener with the necessary clues for a proper diagnosis. Moreover, narrative competence allows the physician to simultaneously hear the human sentiments contained in the storyteller's tale.;The Medical Humanities movement promotes the close reading of literature in order to develop narrative abilities and sensibilities but prose and poetry are not the only sources of narrative. Telling stories through art is an innate human process that is as old as cave painting and as contemporary as a public mural.;Many of the concepts that aid in dissecting a novel are operative in the close reading of figurative art. Knowledge of these areas can promote narrative competence in physicians who are trained to be both attentive readers and viewers.;The practice of medicine demands both narrative and visual skills. This intertwining is the inspiration for employing figurative paintings with medical narrative content in the Medical Humanities curriculum. Narrative art teaches narrative competence. This dissertation will demonstrate that the use of narrative paintings is a valuable epistemological tool for developing narrative abilities in medical students and residents.