Participation Type
Panel
Appalachian Communities: Resilience and Change
Session Title
A More Beautiful Clinic: Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts with Patients at WVU Medicine
Session Abstract or Summary
Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts have been integrated into the patient care through WVU Medicine in several new, exciting initiatives aimed to support medical care with more humanistic approaches. As a leader in healthcare in the state of West Virginia, the interdisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners seek to fortify the treatment of conditions with meaningful act of story and expressive art, these researchers seek to connect clinical outcomes with humanistic ones. WVU Medicine provides care to patients across West Virginia and the region, and inclusion of these approaches honors the storytelling and artistic traditions intrinsic to many of the patients receiving care, paying homage to the resilience many conditions require and seeking to change the way healthcare professionals and patients work together towards restoration and healing. Expressive writing and storytelling have been used in clinics serving patients with cancer, autism, HIV and other conditions. A new art cart has been added to care in the WVU Cancer Institute’s infusion center. Professional training from practitioner-level to pre-med has been added to various curricula The panel will address many of these changes from first-hand experience, and will share from their experiences in the clinics and in the classroom.
Presentation #1 Title
A More Beautiful Clinic: Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts with Patients at WVU Medicine
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The panel includes members from a diverse background working towards integrating Narrative Medicine and expressive arts in to healthcare settings. These include a creative writer, a palliative care specialist, an occupational therapist, and an undergraduate pre-med researcher.
Narrative medicine and expressive art approaches will be discussed. All of the panelists have participated in WVU’s first Narrative Medicine initiative at the WVU Cancer Institute (grant funded by WV CTSI and the Benedum Foundation, among others). This will serve as the basis of the discussion, although other clinical projects will also be included. As well, approaches to teaching Narrative Medicine and expressive arts in healthcare from the pre-med level “Medicine and the Arts” course, to inclusion in health professions coursework, and in professional development sessions across the WVU Health Sciences Center will also be included.
The session goals include providing others an idea of what kinds of Narrative Medicine and Expressive arts techniques have been used in clinical settings in Appalachia, the ways in which these projects have been successful, ideas for further implementation, and an understanding of how the panelist explore Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts in teaching situations. Including a pre-medical student who participated in research shows the change in approach in preparing students to enter into the medical profession.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Renée K. Nicholson is assistant professor in the Programs for Multi- and Interdisciplinary Studies at West Virginia University, the author of the poetry collection Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center (Urban Farmhouse Press, 2014) and is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Bodies of Truth: Personal Narratives on Illness, Disability, and Medicine (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). Renée was the 2011 Emerging Writer-in-Residence at Penn State-Altoona, and her writing has appeared in Poets & Writers, Moon City Review, River Teeth, Midwestern Gothic, Electric Literature, The Gettysburg Review and elsewhere. She is a an American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum certified teacher, and a member of the Dance Critics Association, National Book Critics Circle, the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Appalachian Studies Association, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and is currently finishing her Professional Certificate in Narrative Medicine at Columbia Univeristy’s Program in Narrative Medicine. Renée’s work has been awarded a grants from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, West Virginia Clinical and Science Institute, WVU Humanities Center, West Virginia Commission on the Arts, WVU ADVANCE and WVU Community Engagement Grants. Renée was awarded the Susan S. Landis Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in 2018 for her work in narrative medicine at WVU Cancer Institute. She is the 2019 Director of the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop at WVU.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Dr. Holbein attended Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany for medical school. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey followed by a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine. Dr. Holbein was recruited as an attending physician (Assistant Professor) in the Section of Supportive Care and due to her interest in cancer patients transitioned to the Section of Hematology/Oncology to be a more effective part of a patient’s cancer team. She coordinated the care and education with patients, caregivers, and referring providers often over long distances in patients with limited resources. Dr. Holbein assists in the process of each individual patient living a rewarding life while treating symptoms that may arise. Dr. Holbein is active in research regarding topics that influence cancer patients’ quality of life. Narrative Medicine has become an integral part of her research.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Rondalyn Whitney is an Associate Professor and Director of Faculty Scholarship and Development at WVU in the Department of Occupational Therapy. She is the 2018 recipient the Virginia Scardina award for service to families and children, winner of the 2016 Reh Center Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. She was inducted into the Roster of Fellows for the American Occupational Therapy Association for her work with families and children. She is a Teaching and Learning Scholar Associate at WVU. Her research focuses on maternal stress when raising a child with disruptive behaviors, the use of health narrative as intervention and using technology to reduce barriers to intervention due to socioeconomic or geographic barriers. In addition to her scholarly work, she has authored 5 books aimed to support children’s sensory-motor development, the Writer’s Toolkit, and a historical review of Ora Ruggles in poetry and narrative.
A More Beautiful Clinic: Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts with Patients at WVU Medicine
The panel includes members from a diverse background working towards integrating Narrative Medicine and expressive arts in to healthcare settings. These include a creative writer, a palliative care specialist, an occupational therapist, and an undergraduate pre-med researcher.
Narrative medicine and expressive art approaches will be discussed. All of the panelists have participated in WVU’s first Narrative Medicine initiative at the WVU Cancer Institute (grant funded by WV CTSI and the Benedum Foundation, among others). This will serve as the basis of the discussion, although other clinical projects will also be included. As well, approaches to teaching Narrative Medicine and expressive arts in healthcare from the pre-med level “Medicine and the Arts” course, to inclusion in health professions coursework, and in professional development sessions across the WVU Health Sciences Center will also be included.
The session goals include providing others an idea of what kinds of Narrative Medicine and Expressive arts techniques have been used in clinical settings in Appalachia, the ways in which these projects have been successful, ideas for further implementation, and an understanding of how the panelist explore Narrative Medicine and Expressive Arts in teaching situations. Including a pre-medical student who participated in research shows the change in approach in preparing students to enter into the medical profession.
