Bones and “bons mots” (Fr)  

By Brie Buchanan, Grace Chen, Eve Glenn, Ysa Le, Samalya Thenuwara, medical students, Dawn Laporte, MD, Richard Schaefer, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins Medicine

In 2018, Seth Leopold wrote that orthopedic surgery was “late to the party” when it came to narrative medicine, a field that had been described years before. Well, that’s changing, thanks in part to a team of medical students and their faculty who developed and presented a session at the recent American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting titled “Enhancing orthopaedic care through narrative medicine: bridging science and storytelling.”

As characterized by Rita Charon, narrative medicine emphasizes the importance of patient stories, recognizing them as powerful vehicles for empathy, healing, and understanding. It allows clinicians to engage with the human experiences behind the symptoms, fostering not only better care, but also a more compassionate and patient-centered practice. Narrative medicine invites reflection and vulnerability, creating space for the clinician to be present in both the technical and emotional aspects of healing. It humanizes medicine by placing the patient’s story at the core of the encounter. Narrative medicine provides a two-fold benefit: by carefully reflecting on impactful moments and patients, clinicians care for themselves and thus are able to provide better care for the patients that need them.

A variety of media have been utilized to practice narrative medicine, including literature, art, music, film, and storytelling. Reflective writing and even reflective drawing have been described.

At the AAOS session above, the students described narrative medicine, including a crash course in narrative medicine history and the demonstrated benefits of narrative medicine across medical specialties. They then led the attendees in a few practical exercises, including reflecting upon a poem written by orthopedic surgeon Richard Lackman, diagramming their favorite bone or joint, describing in one sentence how they would like to be remembered, or drawing items they carry with them and how they relate to their identity.

The participants, ranging in experience from medical students up to seasoned clinicians, shared their reflections with the group as they desired. The reflections included humor (“Don’t judge my calcaneus drawing!”) as well as poignancy (a World War II veteran’s story). Submitted art and writing were collected to make a group collage to remember and reflect on the event.

While the field of orthopedic surgery is highly technical, every patient (and surgeon) has a story. Both patients and clinicians can benefit from the empathy and understanding that narrative medicine can provide. Despite being late to the party, it’s never too late for orthopedic surgeons, and all clinicians, to learn and practice narrative medicine.

This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.