From the doctor’s office to the hospital, few other settings require people to be at their most vulnerable than health care. Though patients are baring the most personal details of their lives, the exchange is not mutual. Physicians are not encouraged to do the same.
“In medicine, we excavate vulnerable truths from our patients, but have little practice being vulnerable ourselves … I've come to believe that when we know how to share our own stories, how to reveal ourselves, we'll be more capable of providing space for others to reveal themselves. When we're comfortable sitting with our own pain, we'll know how to help others navigate theirs.”
Matthew J. Farrell, MD, spoke at the TEDxUCLA Salon organized by UCLA Health’s department of radiation oncology. “Let’s Get Awkward to Get More Connected: Humanizing Those Who Heal” was an evening of stories presented by medical students and residents.
One by one, the writers walked up on stage. Shahrin Islam, MD, recounted her sudden seizure during medical school in Seize the Day. Kate Coursey, MD, narrated her sister’s unexpected death in 124 Washington Road. In Reflection, medical student Grace Yi recalled the traumatic aftermath of a patient’s death. And Eulanca Liu, MD, PhD, found inspiration for Lessons in her medical school personal statement.
The stories emerged from a creative writing elective taught by Dr. Farrell, fellow radiation oncologist Puja Venkat, MD, and radiation oncology resident Dr. Liu, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Through storytelling, participants were able to give voice to the complex emotions they experienced as healers and caregivers.
“In the radiation oncology clinic, I ask patients to tell me their stories,” said Dr. Venkat from the stage. “Every day I walk with them in their fear, their hope, their love, their loss and their grief. I remind myself often it is not my grief. I have no right to it, no ownership of it. Yet, I feel it over and over again.”
Narrative medicine
About two decades ago, the intersection of literature and health care birthed narrative medicine. The new discipline incorporated patients’ and providers’ narratives into the healing process. These stories have even made their way into medical journals where they are among the most clicked and shared.
“Studies show that reading narratives increases empathy and reduces bias, that writing about difficult experiences improves mental and physical health, and that narrative-based medical practice strengthens therapeutic bonds with patients,” said Dr. Farrell, an assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Before medical school, Dr. Farrell graduated with an MFA in creative writing. Students in his elective followed the same workshop model: the writer listened in silence as professors and classmates offered feedback on their stories. In a unique addition, the writer held a stuffed purple gorilla toy as a source of comfort during this vulnerable exercise. The class mascot was inspired by the poem Grief by Matthew Dickman.
“In medicine and in life, we are taught to cry in the bathroom, if you must, but better yet, don't feel it all,” said Dr. Venkat, co-vice chair of equity, diversity and inclusion, and assistant clinical professor of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Our purple gorilla encourages us to defy our training, to be vulnerable and to connect with each other, ourselves and our patients.”
As the TEDxUCLA Salon concluded, the writers shared how their stories allowed them to process difficult experiences. By writing about it, Dr. Islam said she felt less defined by her seizure. Medical student Yi said her writing fostered compassion not only for her patient but for herself as a trainee. Dr. Liu reflected on her father’s sudden death when she was a child and imparting the life lessons from her “woman warrior” mother to her own unborn daughter. Dr. Coursey’s piece allowed her to share her sister Maura’s “infinite magic.” (Her story will be published in the Spring 2025 issue of the literary journal West Trade Review.)
“There is a hunger for this type of storytelling,” said Dr. Farrell. “Stories are empathy machines.”
