Health narratives are personal stories of health care experiences written by patients, families, or healthcare professionals. These are distinct from case reports, clinical scenarios, or case studies in that they focus on the person's own experience in a health care setting.
Drawing on the principles of Narrative Medicine, the use of published health narratives has the potential to benefit clinical education, practice, wellness, and patient experience. Studies have demonstrated several benefits to health professionals and learners: building empathy and compassion, promoting interdisciplinary practice and understanding, increasing the understanding of how the healthcare system is viewed and experienced by patients, and encouraging self-expression.
The stories listed below focus on the five patient values listed in the UHN Declaration of Patient Values and their related behaviours.
Visit the COVID-19 Narratives Resource page for the experiences of those living, working and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filter by length of reading time, format, creator's perspective, patient value, themes, and more!
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You can add as many filters as you need to focus on narratives that work for you.
Not sure how to use stories in health education? You could:
Learn more about these strategies and more on how to apply health narratives (specifically comics) in education by reading this paper: Theresa Maatman, Michael J. Green, Matthew N. Noe; Graphic Medicine in Graduate Medical Education. J Grad Med Educ 1 February 2022; 14 (1): 113–114.
Here are some more examples of different applications:
