A few weeks ago, I sat with an elderly man with locally advanced bladder cancer and his daughter. She was worried; he no longer seemed like himself. He slept most of the day. He had no appetite, not even for her cooking, which he had once loved. She described how he used to fill the kitchen with stories from his morning walk—the neighbor’s new dog, … Continue reading Shattered and Adaptable: Two Books, One Truth About Being Human
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
It has been difficult week, I think for many? I found respite participating, entirely online, in Conrad’s Literary Festival, that takes place each fall in my hometown, Krakow, Poland. This year, the festival is entirely online, and has an ambitious list of guests. Continue reading Friday Assorted Links #16
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
Marcin Chwistek, MD 