Narrative Medicine: Every Patient Has a Story |

Every patient has a story that goes beyond the symptoms they bring into the doctor’s office.

Those stories can illuminate how a person became ill, the tipping point that compelled them to seek help, and, perhaps most importantly, the social challenges they face in getting better. Stories can offer the kind of contextual richness that promotes and nourishes empathy, prompting a provider to switch from asking “How can I treat this disease?” to “How can I help my patient?” The difference may seem subtle at first, but knowing how to get patients to share their stories can be transformative in improving patient care, say proponents of this approach called “narrative medicine.”

Another classification for this is Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

Social determinants of health

These include underlying communitywide social, economic, political, cultural, and physical conditions people experience when they are born and as they grow, live, work and age. These experiences shape individual material and psychosocial circumstances as well as biological and behavioral factors. The term commonly refers to defined communities or regions, which are typically defined by geography. All patients experience social determinants of health.  

Structural determinants

These include the climate, socioeconomic-political context—for example, societal norms and macroeconomic, social, and health policies—and the structural mechanisms that shape social hierarchy and gradients, including economics income, access to food, power, class, racism, sexism, and exclusion. It commonly refers to cities, states, nations, or the world and typically is defined by political jurisdictions, cultural boundaries, or economic relationships. 

Community Health

A multisector, multidisciplinary collaborative enterprise that uses public health science, evidence-based strategies, and other approaches to engage and work with communities in a culturally appropriate manner to optimize the health, quality of life, and social determinants of health for all people who live, work or are otherwise active in defined communities.

Public Health

Public Health is often determined by factors outside the health care system and is committed to addressing the social determinants of health to improve health outcomes for all Americans.

Narrative Medicine: Every Patient Has a Story | AAMC