Columbia University Medical Center's Program in Narrative Medicine Partners with VA to Improve Veteran Care

NEW YORK, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Health care professionals require specific training if they are to successfully treat veterans who have experienced the unique physical and psychological traumas of war. In an effort to increase the satisfaction of veterans and their families with the care they receive at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics, Columbia University Medical Center's (CUMC) Program in Narrative Medicine is hosting a first-of-its-kind three-day workshop, "Challenges in VA Health Care: A Narrative Response," from March 9-11, 2012.

The workshop aims to equip VA doctors, nurses, social workers and therapists with the narrative techniques to form therapeutic alliances with veterans and their families and improve communication and respect among members of the VA health care team. Participants will learn narrative approaches to clinical interviewing, ways to develop enriched therapeutic relationships, and reading and writing interventions that will enable them to better hear and understand patient experiences.

"Our partnership with VA will instill in participants the clinical tools to listen, encourage patient stories, honor the meaning of their patients' stories and grant permission to share thoughts and concerns," said Rita Charon, MD, Executive Director of CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine. "Using cost-effective and evidence-based methods to train VA clinical professionals, we look to improve the patient care of veterans across the country through this workshop and future work with VA."

About half of the 40 VA attendees at the weekend seminar will be physicians. Among the other attendees will be nurses, chaplains, mental health professionals, social workers and other clinical professionals. Sessions will cover such topics as moral injury, reconceptualizing empathy, team building and self care, writing in the clinical context and beyond, and illness narratives: the skills of bearing witness to the suffering of others. Jonathan Shay, author of two books on the nature and treatment of PTSD, Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America, will be joining as guest faculty. 

Participants will learn skills in:

• Applying current concepts in working with witnesses and participants in violence;
• Developing narrative life reviews in caring for veterans;
• Team-building strategies for the VA workplace; and
• Narrative communication strategies for patient-centered and life-framed practice.

Since 1996, the Program in Narrative Medicine has pioneered training in narrative medicine techniques that help doctors, nurses and other health care professionals engage and collaborate more effectively with their patients and each other through the development of enhanced communication skills.

About Program in Narrative Medicine

The Program in Narrative Medicine (PNM) was established in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 1996 to break down barriers in health care by providing practitioners with the clinical tools to listen, encourage patient stories, honor the meaning of their patients' and their own stories, and grant permission to share thoughts and concerns. Inaugurated and directed by Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D. as an integrated program that transcends the divisions that separate Columbia's academic departments from one another, the PNM brings together health care professionals, patients, faculty and researchers in new and exciting ways. It unifies disciplines in a shared University goal – improving health care using the power of the narrative. As a result, patients are treated more empathetically and have the opportunity to engage more fully with their own care; understanding and articulating it beyond a description of physical symptoms. More information can be found at www.narrativemedicine.org.

About Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical, and clinical research; in medical and health sciences education; and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest in the United States. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.

About Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC (DCVAMC)

The Washington DC VA Medical Center (DCVAMC) is among the most dynamic Medical Centers in the VA system and is a national leader in advancing health care technology. This tertiary care facility provides comprehensive primary and specialty care in medicine, surgery, neurology and psychiatry. The Medical Center has 174 acute care beds, 30 Psychosocial Residential Rehabilitation Treatment (PRRTP) beds, and an adjacent 120-bed Community Living Center (CLC), providing a full-spectrum of extended care services including geriatric and polytrauma rehabilitation, long-term care, hospice and palliative care. The Medical Center supports an active research program, VA's War Related Injury and Illness Study Center and is the east coast Pacemaker Center hub for VA.  The hospital serves over 90,000 enrolled Veterans residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, which includes Maryland and Northern Virginia, and had over one-million patient encounters in 2011.

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SOURCE Columbia University Medical Center