We host an interesting interview realised with Viviana Melis, stomatherapist nurse and participant of the V edition of the Master in Applied Narrative Medicine.
Why did you choose the narrative medicine master?
In my working experience (not only), I’ve always been an active volcano, because I’ve always looking for new stirrings to improve further my profession and my daily life. When I’ve decided to start that master it happened in a spontaneously and natural way. I’ve approached the narrative medicine in a formation path and it impressed me because maybe, without know it, I was already doing narrative medicine. I decided to do this kind of path because I’ve desired to examine in depth, understand the basis of narrative but most of all to use it inside my daily life to produce results able to improve the cure of people with stoma (and not only).
You heard talking about it before? What did you expect to found?
Before the master I heard talking about narrative medicine and disease but I’ve never gone deeper, I didn’t take too much care. In my daily practice in the clinic, in the department, we ask to the patient to tell how he’s living the disease, often I’ve invited the patient to write down his story. Often I thought how share with the other what the patient narrate, but above all I wonder how gather the stories with the purpose of sharing them with other healthcare professional to improve our daily work, here my decision for the master.
What did you found? What did you discover through narrative medicine?
During this master I had the chance to understand the importance of narrative medicine and above all I’ve understand and learned how use it to produce results. The master’s experience was very fruitful, gave me the chance to meet new people, trainers with high competence and an international professionalism, the chance of comparing oneself to professionals from other countries allowed to amplify our horizons of care and of the caregivers. What can I say more, my companions with different skills and different working setting but with a commune purpose, everyone contribute to this beautiful experience.
How your project work was embraced by your patients, colleagues and healthcare management?
In the elaboration of my project work it was mostly appreciated by participants that gave me a contribute through their stories. Understood the importance they felt main characters, understanding the importance of the participation with the purpose of producing results to improve the healthcare helpful service.
Concluded the master’s experience, how are you adopting narrative medicine into your daily practice? Did you have some project?
Projects for the future, many ideas. Soon formation courses for other colleagues that like me can examine in depth and approach narrative medicine, understanding his importance, encourage them to search into their specific rather than in other settings to apply narrative medicine. In future, not too distant, I’d like to create a research project that could be focused upon the people with colon cancer, because it’s a strongly complicated pathology that could leave particularly debilitating outcomes and still today it’s a big fear for the person that lives with this problem.
