Category: Patient-Physician Relationship

AI, Essays, Medical Humanities, Patient-Physician Relationship

AI and the Future of the Patient Narrative: The Rise of (a)iRecord

When Efficiency Trumped Narrative Here’s an odd thing about modern medicine: We have perfected the art of medical storytelling for over 4,000 years but have spent the last few decades systematically destroying it. Doctors have always been storytellers first, from ancient Egyptian scrolls to medieval Islamic physicians carefully documenting case histories. Until we decided efficiency mattered more than narrative. Today, we stand at another pivotal … Continue reading AI and the Future of the Patient Narrative: The Rise of (a)iRecord

Unknown's avatarMarcin Chwistek, MD
Medical Humanities, Patient-Physician Relationship

Finding Space for Humor in Serious Illness Care

Between Gravity and Grace: Discovering the Role of Levity in Patient Care “She had always been interested in standup comedy, and it occurred to her that what’s funny is true. That’s why people respond because the unspeakable is getting said.” I came across these words in Ariel Levy’s 2017 New Yorker profile of Elizabeth Strout, and they stopped me in my tracks. For years, I had struggled … Continue reading Finding Space for Humor in Serious Illness Care

Unknown's avatarMarcin Chwistek, MD
Essays, Medical Humanities, Patient-Physician Relationship

Not just Bones and Muscles

A few weeks ago, an elderly patient with advanced metastatic cancer came to see me in my palliative care clinic. She did not speak English. She came in with her daughter, who translated as the patient did not wish to use an interpreter. She told me about her worsening pain. We had a good visit; I got to know the patient and her daughter a … Continue reading Not just Bones and Muscles

Unknown's avatarMarcin Chwistek, MD1 Comment
neuroscience, Patient-Physician Relationship

Guilt: The Elephant in the (exam) Room.

“I don’t do guilt.” Dr. Robin Taylor is a pulmonologist who practices in Glasgow, Scotland. Most of the patients who come to see him in his respiratory clinic, smoke. And one of the most important things he could help them do for their health is to quit. And as simple as it sounds, it is notoriously a difficult thing to do. And it is not … Continue reading Guilt: The Elephant in the (exam) Room.

Unknown's avatarMarcin Chwistek, MD
Medical Humanities, Patient-Physician Relationship

Restoring the Clinical Note

A few years back, Abraham Verghese wrote “Physician as Storyteller” where he told a story of a patient of his who underwent a discectomy complicated by a rare infection at the side of the surgery. Verghese wrote a case report detailing the clinical situation which he later shared with the patient who was elated to be “a rare case.” Until he read the report: “Abraham, … Continue reading Restoring the Clinical Note

Unknown's avatarMarcin Chwistek, MDLeave a comment