64 Narrative Medicine: Sharing the Patient and Family Story

https://302.buzz/PM-WhatAreYourThoughts

Wendy is a writer, poet, and educator, is a former university vice president, professor, policy advisor, and attorney. She is also the founder and curator of the tiny poetry project – narrative medicine for the soul. She uses narrative medicine and medical humanities as a way of healing, understanding, teaching, and connecting to others regarding issues of illness and health.

In this episode, she shares her experience and the lessons that she learned when they found out her baby had a life-threatening congenital heart condition. A few lessons she talked about today include why pediatricians should introduce themselves properly, how immortality can be a normal topic between parents, and what patients should feel when they’re in the hospital.

[00:01] Wendy Hind, Ph.D. Hind Shares Her Story With Us

• Wendy talks about how they found an irregularity in her baby
• How she and her husband came up with the decision to keep their baby

[05:52] It’s Okay If You Don’t Know All The Answers

• What being in a healthy marriage can do to a family
• Wendy shares her experience of having to go to hospitals often
• Wendy’s message for pediatricians who don’t know all the answers

[15:15] What Patients Need to Feel in a Hospital Setting

• The importance of mentors in a pediatrician’s life
• Why patients need to feel they are heard
• The things that frustrate parents in a hospital setting

[20:12] The Power of a Simple Introduction

• The pediatrician as the ringleader and conductor
• Wendy explains
• Why pediatricians should introduce themselves properly to patients
• Talking about mortality between parents

[30:00] What You Should Know About Narrative Medicine

• Wendy breaks down narrative medicine and why you should learn it too
• The power of hearing another person’s story and humanity
• Don’t miss this poem reading from Wendy!
• Read more from her in the links below

[40:51] Closing Segment

• Final takeaways:
• Always keep humanity and basic kindness in mind
• It’s okay for pediatricians to not know everything
• The power of listening
• Pediatricians should introduce themselves properly
• Read the chart before you see the patient
• Parents and patients know more about their own situation than you do
• Parents and patients worry about outcomes and mortality
• Deliver the important news yourself
• Talk to the other specialists involved
• Narrative Medicine allows patients and parents to tell their stories
• A powerful poem from Wendy you need to read now
• Find out more about Wendy’s work on the links below

Key Quotes:

“Never underestimate the power of a simple introduction and who you are and why you’ve come in the room.” - Wendy Hind, Ph.D.

“Poetry has been my mode of telling my story.” - Wendy Hind, Ph.D.

Email w_hind@hotmail.com or tinypoetryproject@gmail.com to connect with Wendy. Check out Tiny Poetry Project or its Facebook,