James Phelan, Narrative Medicine: A Rhetorical Rx, Routledge 2023

Narrative medicine is an emerging field that is becoming increasingly popular in the study of both humanities and medicine. It combines the traditional skills of storytelling with medical practice, allowing clinicians to better understand their patients’ perspectives and experiences. The use of narrative medicine has been shown to improve patient outcomes, as well as provide clinicians with a more holistic approach to care. By using narrative techniques such as reflective writing and storytelling, healthcare practitioners can better comprehend how a patient’s life circumstances may be impacting their health and wellbeing. This is the core idea of James Phelan’s Narrative Medicine: A Rhetorical Rx, which can be read as a lesson to learn in both the humanities and medical science. The book offers a theoretical framework for the use of rhetoric in narrative medicine and provides a patter to follow for workshops in the field.