'My Story': a new departure for Medical Education

摘要

Humans are story-telling animals. For most people, narratives are compelling evidence. It has even been argued that logical thought processes, as observed in science, are unnatural.1 Many recent accounts describe the role of narrative in medicine, and the importance of stories may well be among the most significant ways in which medicine differs from science.To recognise that this is the case is not necessarily to commend or to condemn it. It may be that if humans acted logically, there would be positive outcomes, or that we should cease from striving to promote logical rather than illogical thinking, while recognising the social context in which we operate. Studies on the introduction of evidence-based medicine have shown how difficult it is to convert traditional practices into rational ones. Much evidence on clinical reasoning indicates that it occurs primarily through case or pattern recognition, rather than through logical deductive processes. It may be that clinical reasoning would be more accurate and effective (and possibly error rates might be lower) if we operated in a logical manner, but we have to recognise that it's not going to happen any time soon.