2012 Volume 52 Issue 11 Pages 1014-1021
There is a good possibility that psycho-somatic medicine contribute the medical professionalism curricula because of commonality of their bio-psycho-social orientation. However, there have been scarce discussions about the theories and methodologies how to teach virtues necessary for a good physician, e.g. altruism, compassion, reflectivity etc., rather than knowledge and skills. Recently, narrative-based professionalism has been argued, including effective teaching methods which can directly approach the central paradox in medicine. One of the key concepts of narrative-based professionalism is narrative competence, defined as the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. To establish the teaching strategy of narrative competence, the concept of narrative skills and the method of narrative training should be clarified. In the present report, the author describes some concrete examples of educational practices as narrative training, e.g. parallel chart in USA, story-making exercise from the different view point, and experiential learning through reflective writings in the Web-based system for sharing stories, in Japan.
