The Importance Of Nursing Narrative In Medicine
Listening to people’s narratives in nursing is an effective way of addressing the needs of patients to express their experiences. This practice encourages health care professionals to be empathetic towards patients, while engaging in having a therapeutic relationship helps them achieve a better understanding on what is happening to the patient.
Narrative is involved by how empathically engaged the nurse is when receiving information from the patient. Charon notes that physicians illustrate the narrative thread of the story told by the patient which consists of the biological, familial cultural, and existential meanings. Having empathy towards the patient will allow them to feel comfortable and reveal more information that can help health care professionals have a better understanding on what may be occurring, or why a patient may make certain decisions. Another narrative interaction in addition to empathy is therapeutic communication. Creating a therapeutic environment is essential to making the patient comfortable by helping them feel secure, informed, and valued. Once in this environment, they will be more likely to open up about their experiences. As a result, you will know more about them as a person, along with what is meaningful to them. While there are many ways to perform narrative interactions, showing empathy and creating a therapeutic environment is not only helpful for the patient, but for health care professionals as it helps them absorb more information that may not be expressed if the individual was less comfortable.
Narrative in medicine is an important aspect in nursing. In a time of suffering and misery, it is crucial to create a therapeutic relationship with your patient by reassuring them and being aware of their illness, which also aids in recovery. Sick people are not only in need of care form medicine, but also from reassurance. Charon explains that medicine alone cannot cure patients, but the ability to listen to their narratives allows them to honor their meanings, and act on the patient’s behalf. When someone is sick in your care, they will need you to understand their illness not only on a biological level, but an emotional level as well. When a health care professional caters to someone’s needs, it will help them recover as a result. Samuel suggests that we should have patients write about themselves to aid their distress. When patients are comfortable enough to tell their story, it is a relief on their behalf because they will understand that the nurse cares, wants to understand their fears and it not there to treat them any less than human.
Narrative in medicine brings out the humane side of health care professionals when attending their patients. As it is not easy, it is very important to incorporate narrative by reassuring the patient and hearing in on their stories which helps them in recovering the mental state of their illness.
