UCSF Courses

Medical Student as Writer is a Bridges Curriculum Clinical Immersive Experience (CIEx) for medical students in Foundations 2 that uses narrative medicine to support professional identity formation, reflective capacity, and patient-centered care. Through facilitated writing workshops, close reading, and guided reflection, students will explore how narrative attention to illness experience, self, and clinical relationships can enhance patient care and physician well-being. Students will engage with physician-writers and clinician-educators using the humanities in medical practice and will complete a written narrative project grounded in clinical experience. Led by Dr. Anoushka Sinha.

Guest speakers will share lectures, stories, clinical pearls, and personal experiences to promote discussions for deeper understanding & skill-building in communication, engagement, compassion and connection with patients. Topics may include: empathic listening; tips for communicating with compassion; using the BATHE technique in challenging dialogues; patient stories as narrative experiences; medical humanities; spirituality; grief and loss; mindful presence; Impostor Syndrome; and more. Led by Dr. Shieva Khayam-Bashi and Dr. Thomas McNalley. 

Physicians, privy to an amazing variety of vulnerable experiences shared by humanity, have always been natural storytellers. Organized by The Nocturnists, this elective will introduce medical students to new media and communication, including podcasting, as well as live storytelling events. Students will learn the craft of podcasting, and will leave the elective with a strong mental framework for using podcasts and other narrative-centric media tools to communicate crucial stories in medicine. Led by Dr. Emily Silverman. 

The Healer’s Art elective, a 15-hour discovery model process offers 1st year medical students the opportunity to bring more of their authentic self to the study and practice of medicine. In both large and small group formats both faculty and students explore time-honored values of service, personal relationships, humanism, reverence for life and compassion. Led by Dr. Thomas McNalley.