Implementing narrative medicine in teaching languages for healthcare purposes

Narrative medicine not only helps to make professional-patient relationships and communication more humane but also supports professional reflection of people working in healthcare by taking into consideration the specific aspects of interpersonal interactions. Since curricula in all branches of health science and medical education are often already overloaded with core medical subjects, language classes can offer a good opportunity to introduce narrative medicine through a medical content-based approach to language teaching. As narrative medicine encompasses philosophical, ethical and psychological concepts related to narrative identity, its interdisciplinary approach aligns well with the field of health humanities. The application of narrative medicine in specialised language teaching is currently an underexplored yet very promising field, as the processing of fact-based texts has so far been the primary focus of lessons, leaving little room for the application of narrative medicine methods. This paper examines the possibilities for facilitating narrative medicine and explores its applicability in teaching languages for healthcare purposes.