Literature and Medicine
I am developing a class for the Medical Scholars at Michigan State University. These are students accepted into medical school at MSU at the same time they were accepted to MSU undergraduate. They are guaranteed a place in the medical school as long as they keep up their GPA and pass all their premed requirements. As part of the program, students from all four years participate in monthly meetings and group and individual projects.
This year, I'm in charge of the yearly theme - the doctor-patient relationship. Over this summer, students will read 10 short stories all from the perspective of the patient. The monthly sessions will begin with discussion of the readings as well as discussion of what the doctor patient relationship is all about. Then, as students start to learn about the doctor side of the relationship, they will be assigned one of the characters from the stories. That character, and the illness or disability they have, is what the student will research over the next few months. The story helps them understand the kinds of psychological and social issues that arise as a result of the illness process. Then, they will role play their patient in practice doctor-patient interactions. At the beginning of the year we'll have them write a little about the kind of patients they think they would dislike the most. At the end of the year they will revisit their writing exercises to see if any of their ideas have changed.
The stories they will be reading include:
Mirrorings, by Lucy Grealy: a nine year old girl has half of her jaw resected because of cancer. She details not only the treatments, but also the way she is treated in school and outside because of her deformity.
Fathering, by Bharati Mukherjee: the American father of a Vietnamese girl deals with her illness, her mistrust of doctors, and her use of traditional remedies as he tries to find care for a child who is wild with fear and the residue of trauma.
We are night time travelers, by Ethan Canin: An elderly man, dissatisfied by the way he and his wife converse over the rows of pill bottles on the kitchen table, and constrained by the effects of age, illness, and habit, tries to rekindle the love in his marriage.
One Last Time, by Lori Russell: A woman struggles with her husband's painful dying from cancer as she tries to give herself permission to envision her own life after he is gone.
He Read to Her, by Anne Brashler: A woman who has just come home from the hospital after having bowel surgery tries, with her husband's help, to come to terms with living with a colostomy.
From "Cotton in my Ears" by Frances Warfield: A little girl tries to explain the strange behavior of the grown ups around her before she is diagnosed with profound hearing loss.
A Problem of Plumbing by James M. Bellarosa: A paraplegic man who is cultured and educated has to deal with the indignity of inaccessible toilets when out on a date with a beautiful woman.
From "My Left Foot" by Christy Brown: This selection is from early in the book, where the narrator recounts what life looks like from inside a body that he cannot control.
Sex, by Irma Wallem: an elderly arthritic woman who lives in a nursing home competes with the other women residents for the affection of a man, any man.
Milk, by Eileen Pollack: a single Anthropologist is in the hospital after giving birth. Her roommate is a raucous, oppositional black woman whose baby is sick. The story explores prejudice in medical care and its repercussions.
There aren't a whole lot of doctors in these stories. It is important, I think, for the students to realize that doctors aren't necessarily central to the lives of their patients. Their treatments may be - like Lucy Grealy's surgery, or the chemotherapy for the husband in "One Last Time." But the day to day living of life for patients happens without their doctors being in charge. It is not always clear if the doctors and their treatments are helping or hurting. And it is not always clear whether the doctors could help more, especially if they knew what their patients' issues really were.
Some of these stories are annotated in the Literature and Medicine Database, with source references, if you are interested. I prefer to use short fiction or essays in my teaching over novels. The shorter pieces allow for multiple perspectives on similar themes in a way that a novel doesn't. I also try to use mostly contemporary works. In that way the students know these issues are current and relevant for them.
This year, I'm in charge of the yearly theme - the doctor-patient relationship. Over this summer, students will read 10 short stories all from the perspective of the patient. The monthly sessions will begin with discussion of the readings as well as discussion of what the doctor patient relationship is all about. Then, as students start to learn about the doctor side of the relationship, they will be assigned one of the characters from the stories. That character, and the illness or disability they have, is what the student will research over the next few months. The story helps them understand the kinds of psychological and social issues that arise as a result of the illness process. Then, they will role play their patient in practice doctor-patient interactions. At the beginning of the year we'll have them write a little about the kind of patients they think they would dislike the most. At the end of the year they will revisit their writing exercises to see if any of their ideas have changed.
The stories they will be reading include:
Mirrorings, by Lucy Grealy: a nine year old girl has half of her jaw resected because of cancer. She details not only the treatments, but also the way she is treated in school and outside because of her deformity.
Fathering, by Bharati Mukherjee: the American father of a Vietnamese girl deals with her illness, her mistrust of doctors, and her use of traditional remedies as he tries to find care for a child who is wild with fear and the residue of trauma.
We are night time travelers, by Ethan Canin: An elderly man, dissatisfied by the way he and his wife converse over the rows of pill bottles on the kitchen table, and constrained by the effects of age, illness, and habit, tries to rekindle the love in his marriage.
One Last Time, by Lori Russell: A woman struggles with her husband's painful dying from cancer as she tries to give herself permission to envision her own life after he is gone.
He Read to Her, by Anne Brashler: A woman who has just come home from the hospital after having bowel surgery tries, with her husband's help, to come to terms with living with a colostomy.
From "Cotton in my Ears" by Frances Warfield: A little girl tries to explain the strange behavior of the grown ups around her before she is diagnosed with profound hearing loss.
A Problem of Plumbing by James M. Bellarosa: A paraplegic man who is cultured and educated has to deal with the indignity of inaccessible toilets when out on a date with a beautiful woman.
From "My Left Foot" by Christy Brown: This selection is from early in the book, where the narrator recounts what life looks like from inside a body that he cannot control.
Sex, by Irma Wallem: an elderly arthritic woman who lives in a nursing home competes with the other women residents for the affection of a man, any man.
Milk, by Eileen Pollack: a single Anthropologist is in the hospital after giving birth. Her roommate is a raucous, oppositional black woman whose baby is sick. The story explores prejudice in medical care and its repercussions.
There aren't a whole lot of doctors in these stories. It is important, I think, for the students to realize that doctors aren't necessarily central to the lives of their patients. Their treatments may be - like Lucy Grealy's surgery, or the chemotherapy for the husband in "One Last Time." But the day to day living of life for patients happens without their doctors being in charge. It is not always clear if the doctors and their treatments are helping or hurting. And it is not always clear whether the doctors could help more, especially if they knew what their patients' issues really were.
Some of these stories are annotated in the Literature and Medicine Database, with source references, if you are interested. I prefer to use short fiction or essays in my teaching over novels. The shorter pieces allow for multiple perspectives on similar themes in a way that a novel doesn't. I also try to use mostly contemporary works. In that way the students know these issues are current and relevant for them.
posted by HS at 8/09/2006 11:53:00 PM
1 Comments:
That doctors aren't necessarily primary in patients' thoughts reminds me of my own time in the hospital (as a child). I saw my doctors rarely, maybe once a week. The nurses interacted with me on a daily and even hourly basis, answering my questions and helping me deal with my disease. I'm not sure how much interaction existed between the doctors and nurses but suspect there was little beyond chart-reading. I wonder how much more effective my treatment would have been if there had been more dialogue among them, or even among my doctors and me.
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