Lost in Translation: Insights from Experts in Narrative Medicine

Today, Dr. Ezra Schwartz and Dr. Nakia Sarad continue exploring how vascular surgeons and patients communicate. They discuss how we share stories and what may get lost in translation.

Dr. Rita Charon is a general internist, professor of medicine, and professor and founding chair of medical humanities at Columbia University. Dr. Charon originated the field of narrative medicine and is the founder and executive director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia. A literary scholar, Dr. Charon completed a Ph.D. in English at Columbia, concentrating on narratology and the works of American-British author Henry James. She is the author of Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness, co-author of Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine, and co-editor of Stories Matter: The Role of Narrative in Medical Ethics and Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine.

Dr. Abraham Fuks is a clinical immunologist, a Professor in the Department of Medicine and Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University, a Professor of Oncology at the Goodman Cancer Institute, and served as Dean of the McGill University Faculty of Medicine from 1995 to 2006. Dr. Fuks' has published on the metaphors of medicine and ethics in clinical research. In 2021, Dr. Fuks published a book, The Language of Medicine, in which he explores the ability of language to heal or harm and the potent metaphors prevalent in clinical care, especially military metaphors.

Dr. Anahita Dua is a vascular surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital, an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, and a frequent guest on Audible Bleeding.

Resources:

• Dr. Charon's related works:
  • Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness
  • The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine
  • Stories Matter: The Role of Narrative in Medical Ethics and Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine
  • TEDx Talk
• Dr. Fuks' related works:
  • The Language of Medicine
  • The Mindful Medical Learner Podcast featuring Dr. Fuks
  • Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics
• Dr. Dua's related works:
  • Epidemiology of Peripheral Arterial Disease and Critical Limb Ischemia
  • Peripheral Artery Disease: Where We Are and Where We Are Going
• Validated QOL surveys and Patient Reported Outcome Measures:
  • PORTRAIT (Patient-Centered Outcomes Related to Treatment Practices in Peripheral Arterial Disease: Investigating Trajectories): Overview of Design and Rationale of an International Prospective Peripheral Arterial Disease Study
  • Patient-Reported Outcomes for Peripheral Vascular Interventions for the Vascular Quality Initiative
  • Eric Cassell & Functionality
  • Vasc QOL Questionnaire
  • PAD QOL Questionnaire
  • Vasc QL-6 Questionnaire
  • European QL 5D 5L Questionnaire

X Handles (previously known as Twitter):

• Dr. Anahita Dua (@AnahitaDua)
• Dr. Rita Charon (@RitaCharon)
• Dr. Abraham Fuks (@Abe_McGill)
• Dr. Ezra Schwartz (@ezraschwartz10)
• Dr. Nakia Sarad (@NakSaradDO)