Qualitative Research on the Influence of Narrative Medicine Practice on the Professional Identity of Postgraduates Majoring in Traditional Chinese Medicine / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

【Objective:】 To explore the practice experience of narrative medicine among postgraduates majoring in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and its impact on their professional identity. 【Methods:】 A total of 56 first-year master’s and doctoral degree students majoring in TCM at a university were selected through purposive sampling for a 16-hour narrative medicine course training and 4 weeks of clinical practice in narrative medicine. They were asked to complete an open-ended writing assignment on their practical experience after this clinical practice. Subsequently, the topic analysis method in qualitative research was used to analyze their writing contents. 【Results:】 After learning narrative medicine, the students’ practical experience in clinical practice included 3 major themes and 9 sub-themes wide application range (all diagnosis and treatment stages, multiple departments, and disease types), integration of multiple communication skills and diagnosis and treatment methods (communication skills, psychological techniques, reflection, and TCM humanistic diagnosis and treatment methods), and increasing professional identity (achieving mutual healing, building the harmonious doctor-patient relationship, and enhancing confidence in TCM). The themes were further integrated to form the relationship between the narrative medical practice cycle and professional identity, and presented in the form of charts. 【Conclusion:】 By exploring the narrative medical practice experience among TCM postgraduates, it was found that through the use of multiple methods and techniques in the entire diagnosis and treatment stage and multi-disciplinary diseases, it is possible to harmonize the doctor-patient relationship, achieve mutual healing, and enhance confidence in TCM. These internalized recognition and sense of achievement contributes to improving professional identity, which may provide new ideas for the development of professional identity for medical students in China and the exploration of the localization of narrative medical practice.