Reflective writing is one proven method for teaching medical students to interact empathetically with patients. Most such exercises are based on students' reflection on clinical experiences. However, to effectively extract, interpret and translate a patient's story, the reflective practitioner must also be self-aware, personally and professionally. Race, gender and other embodied sources of identity for practitioners and patients have been shown to influence the nature of clinical communication. However, although medical practice focuses on examining, diagnosing and treating bodies, doctors' attitudes towards their own corporeality vary. Medical training creates a dichotomy whereby patients are identified by their bodies, while doctors' bodies are secondary to doctors' minds. As a result, doctors have little capacity to deal with their personal experiences of illness.... This paper describes a reflective writing exercise conducted in a second-year medical humanities seminar for students. The 'personal illness narrative' exercise created a medium through which students were able to extract, interpret and explain their personal experiences of illness while viewing their colleagues' stories. Qualitative analysis of students' evaluation comments showed that the exercise, although emotionally demanding, was well received and highly recommended to other students and residents. The reflective writing exercise can be incorporated into curricula to increase the empathy of participants. Giving students and residents the opportunity to describe and share their experiences of illness can counteract the traditional distancing of doctors' minds from their bodies and lead to more empathetic and self-aware practice.
https://www.annfammed.org/content/annalsfm/16/2/160.full.pdf