In this article, the author weaves narrative medicine and performance together to consider what might it mean to call narrative medicine a performance. To name narrative medicine as performance is to recognize the texts and bodies, the stories and selves, that participate in its practice--patients' and physicians' embodied stories as well as the…

In "Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness," Rita Charon paints an original and humane portrait of what it can mean to be a doctor, to live a life immersed in sickness and dedicated to wellness. Charon drops the veil, inviting readers to look at the secret, subjective, emotional face of medicine, a zone of self-censored feelings and…

By talking with patients in specialized ways and by touching their bodies in specialized ways, doctors may come to some provisional conclusions about the patients' medical conditions and then make some preliminary decisions about what diagnostic tests to have them endure and what medical treatments to initiate. In this article, the author…

Dr. Pete Anderson, a clinician and professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, entered the life of Anna and her family two years ago. Anna was referred to him because of his clinical research and expertise in pediatric oncology and multimodality therapies. Anna had been diagnosed with metastatic Ewing's Sarcoma, a form of bone…

Discusses the communication relationship between physician and patient and ways to improve it. (VLC)

Draws from the work of A. Jonson to discuss ways ethics and communication occur together in health care and the communication aspects in the interaction of doctor and patient. (VLC)

Discusses four areas of research in health communication and how to make them more useful for the future. (VLC)

Addresses the impact of patients' beliefs about health care on their decisions to follow medical advice and to undertake different actions to prevent illness. Concludes that among other things, doctors need to become more willing to modify their treatment plans according to patient needs. (VLC)

Discusses the importance of patient recall of health information and factors influencing and that are influenced by it. Concludes that highly expressive or effective speakers of the same sex are more helpful in promoting recall. (VLC)

Maintains that social and political values embedded within health care delivery systems influence what is studied in health communication, and how results are used. Examines political and social functions of communication in health care delivery systems. Describes the consequences of those functions on a six-year investigation of epilepsy in the…