Application of narrative medicine combined with clinical thinking model in neurology teaching

BACKGROUND: Narrative medicine is a medical model that emphasizes the use of narrative skills in clinical practice to enhance healthcare professionals’ attention to and support for patients. The study aimed to investigate whether the narrative medicine teaching model, combined with clinical thinking, is more effective than the traditional teaching model in neurology teaching. METHODS: The two classes of clinical medical students who were interned in the Department of Neurology of Shandong First Medical University from January to December 2022 were set up as a control group (50 students) and an experimental group (50 students), who were taught with the same chapter of “Cerebral Infarction”. The experimental group received the narrative medicine teaching model combined with clinical thinking, while the control group received the traditional teaching model. At the end of the course, the effectiveness of the teaching was evaluated using a patients’ assessment of clinical services, the SEGUE framework and a post-course examination. RESULTS: The experimental group, which utilized the narrative medicine combined with clinical thinking teaching model, achieved significantly higher scores in both theoretical examination and case analysis compared to the control group. The experimental group demonstrated a significantly higher level of patient satisfaction when compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, students in the experimental group performed significantly better in physician-patient communication than those in the control group (p < 0.05). The integration of narrative medicine with clinical thinking enhanced students’ understanding of disease and improved patient communication skills. CONCLUSIONS: The narrative medicine teaching model combined with clinical thinking appears to be more effective than the traditional teaching model in enhancing students’ understanding of diseases, humanistic qualities, and clinical skills. This approach may offer better teaching effectiveness and warrants further exploration and promotion in medical education.