The elective is an opportunity for fourth-year students to read published illness narratives and to investigate their own experiences through writing. Students will gain proficiency in examining, discussing, and responding to topics related to illness, death, and dying as experienced by patients, families, and medical practitioners. The elective offers a space in which to engage in self-reflection and discussion with peers. Discussion will center on selected readings (longer works read prior to class and shorter pieces read during class), as well as in-class writing exercises shared within the group. Writing prompts will serve as entry points for exploring experiences ranging from patients’ encounters with illness to grief and loss, topics that frequently arise in medical practice but tend to receive little attention in standard medical-school curricula. In the third and fourth years of medical school, students begin to amass a variety of clinical experiences that warrant but often fail to receive deeper examination and contemplation. A primary objective of the elective—and one of its unique features–is to provide a venue for fourth-year students to begin to excavate and articulate some of these experiences. This elective employs the illness narrative to (1) encourage a greater capacity for receiving and interpreting stories of illness, death, and dying, and (2) facilitate conversation among students about their own clinical experiences. Unlike other courses, this elective is longitudinal, meeting regularly over a period of months and thereby offering students time to integrate their clinical experiences as they occur. The course takes place at BUSM in a monthly seminar format. Classes are facilitated by the course instructor. There may be occasional guest faculty facilitators. There will be no direct patient encounters during this elective. The course includes 12 hours of in-class teaching (six sessions, two hours each). In addition, students will be responsible for completing approximately 30 hours of preparation including outside readings and a final project, which may be a compilation of writing or other creative project that demonstrates competence in understanding the illness narrative. Some assigned readings will be available via the BU Library Course Reserves. The majority of writing exercises will take place during class, but students are encouraged to maintain their writing practice between sessions.

Note that this information may change at any time. Please visit the MyBU Student Portal for the most up-to-date course information.