Essay 1: Healthcare Narrative
Rationale/Task: Rita Charon says that effective healers need narrative competence: that is, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Similarly, Teresa Brown writes that nurses need both technical knowledge and the patience to listen for the question behind the question, the courage to give an honest answer (25).
We need to be able not only to listen to others but to feel listened to. What are your experiences with being listened toor not being listened toin a healthcare setting?
In this narrative essay, tell a story about yourself as a patient or about someone else in a healthcare setting that feels significant to you. The experience you choose can include whatever initiated medical carediagnosis, consultation with a medical provider, treatment, billing, or any combination of those things. Through this narrative, you will communicate the situation as well as the significance of the situation. What does this story mean for you as you pursue an education and career within healthcare?
For example, I might write about the night I had to visit a Ugandan clinic because of intense abdominal pain. I would include details about the settingthe cold cement building, the unfinished roof, the night guard who walked the perimeter of the compound outside, etc. I might also include details about the interactionsbeing tested for Malaria and Bilharzia, lying in the waiting room when a rat the size of a football stumbled down the stairs and darted behind the desk. And finally, I would explain the significance of this encounter and how it shaped my view of healthcare.
Format: 3-4 pages. 12-point font, double-spaced. Include an APA title page. Use an APA reference list and in-text citations only if you use outside information (outside sources are not required but you are welcome to use them to help make your point).
Audience: Your audience is your professor and your classmates.
Genre: Narrative essay.
Ethical considerations: Tell a story that is meaningful to you but not so personal or painful that you cannot revise it or talk about it in some detail. Do not violate anyones privacy or get anyone in trouble in the telling of your story. It is okay to use pseudonyms or change details, but you should let your audience know, in writingin a footnote, a preface, or your essay itselfthat you are changing details.
Elements of a good narrative. We will discuss the following elements as we anatomize some of the readings within our course. See the rubric, pp 3-4 of this assignment sheet, for how your essay should accomplish all of these things.
Good narratives tell at least one storyan event that happened in a specific time and placeand that incorporates memorable detail. A narrative can contain multiple, smaller stories, but the main focus is on one event.
Good narratives also include instances in which they show, rather than tell. That is, instead of saying, I was just exhausted, they might say I could no longer keep my eyes open or My muscles would no longer move. Be creative with how you tell this story.
It is okay to use dialogue (quoting people in your story) and to refer to yourself in the I voice.
Note also that narratives usually come to some reflectionreally, an argumentabout the importance of the experience. In its final form, your essay will need to accomplish this. We will look for similar arguments with course readings.
Lastly, think of a title for your narration that may be artistic or clever but also that alludes to your reflection, or overall point. Your essay title should include more information than, for example, a book’s chapter title, because the essay needs to stand alone. You might note, for example, that non-fiction books generally have more informative subtitles than fiction. Examples: Theresa Browns Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient or Thomas Fishers The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER. Title your essay (maybe using a title/ subtitle format) accordingly.
We will discuss the inputs and outputs of writing in the health sciences as discussed in our textbook. Depending on your topic, that might be a framework you can use in your reflection or in planning some of the details of your story. You might also consider that Josephine Ensign finds the field of narrative medicine too limited if it only considers interpersonal encounters and does not consider systems such as insurance or staffing ratios. You may work any of these into your essay if they fit.
Whatever you choose for your reflection, conclude with a paragraph that restates what you already said.
Want to see some sample essays from previous semesters? See the Writing in the Health Sciences collection of student essays from previous semesters. (Bear in mind, though, that the essays may not meet every criterion in the rubric below.)
Deficient
Competent
Proficient
Narrative elements related to storytelling (55/100 points)
Stories. Includes one or more anecdotesthat is, stories that happen at a specific time and placeas part of a larger story (e.g. becoming a nurse). (Think of anecdotes as illustrations, focal points, or beads on a chain that is your larger story.)
Points: 0
There are no anecdotes. The narration either only tells a story vaguely, with no smaller stories that help to illustrate it, does not tell a story at all, or does not meet the assignment.
Points: 30.5
Includes an anecdote or two. The anecdotes might not be very detailed or might not illustrate the larger story as clearly as they could.
Points: 38
The anecdotes are detailed and memorable; they illustrate the larger story and do so with notable craft (such as details that show, rather than tell, and skillful use of dialogue or authorial voice: see below).
Details that show, rather than tell. Includes or illustration to help demonstrate motives, reactions, setting, or other elements of the stories.
Points: 0
There are no details that show, rather than tell. The essay is entirely declarative, without or illustration of any kind.
Points: 8
Has some detail in the form of or illustration, but could include more, could clarify some of the details, or could otherwise more finely tune the illustrations.
Points: 10
Contains well-crafted detail that describes or illustrates motives, setting, or other elements of the stories in skillful, memorable ways.
Dialogue and authorial voice. Quotes others and/ or uses a consistent voice, or point-of-view (I is most common) in the anecdotes and the story-at-large.
Points: 0
Neither quotes others nor uses a consistent voice in the anecdotes and the story-at-large.
Points: 5.5
Incorporates some quotation and/ or a consistent voice in the anecdotes and the story-at-large; could incorporate more memorable quotations or narrate the story more memorably in the writers choice of voice.
Points: 7
Uses memorable quotations and skillful use of the narrators voice in telling the anecdotes and the story-at-large .
Narrative elements related to reflection (39/100 points)
Reflection. Includes a reflectionreally, an argumentabout the importance of the stories. If your stories imply something (e.g. that even difficult patients need to be listened to), your reflection states that explicitly.
Points: 0
Does not include any reflectionor, possibly, states a reflection that is not supported by the stories or in some other way does not meet the assignment.
Points: 28
Reflects on the story or stories, but could be more original, thoughtful, or specific in articulating the stories significance.
Points: 32
Reflects on the story or stories in original, thoughtful, and specific ways that assert something about the importance of the experience.
Title/ title page. Includes a title that both communicates what your essay is about and alludes to what your reflection argues. Includes a title page in APA format.
Points: 0
Does not include a title or the title does not communicate what the essay is about, much less what the essay argues. Does not have a title page.
Points: 5.5
Includes a title, but the title may not be clear on what the essay is about and/ or may not allude to the essays argument. Has a title page, but may not be fully in APA format.
Points: 7
Includes a title that is creative or clever and both communicates what the essay is about (e.g. a faulty diagnosis) and alludes to the essays argument (e.g. that even difficult patients should be listened to). Title page adheres to APA format.
Narrative elements related to precision, length, and genre (6/100 points)
Expresses analysis in appropriate diction and grammar and writes to the assigned length; uses any outside sources responsibly. Avoids a conclusion paragraph that restates what the essay already said. Does not embarrass, endanger, or violate anyones privacy in the telling of the story and is able to view it with critical distance.
Points: 0
Essay is not written in sufficient standard English, is significantly too short, or misuses outside sources, e.g. does not cite them sufficiently. Violates ethical standards (see column, left) in some way.
Points: 4.8
Essay just or nearly meets the desired length and has only a few syntactical or grammar errors; cites any outside sources, although may have a few errors doing so. The essay might repeat itself or, although it considers ethical standards, might need to communicate more clearly that details have been changed.
Points: 6
Grammar & diction are appropriate and the essay meets the target length. Incorporation of any outside sources is accomplished responsibly and with skill. The essay concludes in ways that wrap things up without restating what has already been said. The essay considers and responds appropriately to ethical standards of writing about oneself or others.
The Story I want you to use: Grandmas Doctor Appointment
One time I went to the doctors with my grandma when her dirvicultisis started getting worse. I went because the only time the doctor has and opening is when both my parents were working. My grandma is an immigrant with very broken english. She can understand a few things but is unable to speak the language. So, I went with her to be her translator and explain to the doctor what she was feeling. I am fluent in both English and Malayalam. However, English is my first language and I struggle more with Malayalam. In the visit, my grandma was listing her symptoms to me that I was then translating to the doctor. Then, my grandma said thalakarakkam which means feeling dizzy. But, my mind suddenly went blank. I couldnt think of the english translation for that word. It took me a good five minutes to think through and get the work. This wasted my grandmas time and the doctors time. What if I wasnt free that day? My grandma wouldve had postpone her appointment even further risking her condition getting worse. Also, why didnt the doctors office provide a translator for her? I know that my grandma feels uncomfortable going to the doctors because she doesnt feel understand and sees herself as a burden because she cant speak the language. No patient should feel that way.
