Medical Humanities and the Narrative Medicine Program
Michael Vitez, Director of Narrative Medicine
Naomi Rosenberg, MD, Assistant Director of Narrative Medicine
Check out our podcast "Narratives of North Broad"
Our mission is to focus on the human side of medicine, to increase the satisfaction and fulfillment of students and physicians, and to chronicle the amazing world of Temple University Hospital. We do this through a celebration of and emphasis on stories and storytelling.
The facts are well reported: Doctors too often feel isolated, frustrated, and burned out. Their humanity is challenged. The focus on the patient and patient’s story is often overlooked and devalued in the rush and crush. Students come into medical school full of empathy but in their education and training this often erodes.
Our goal is to protect and support this empathy, to nourish the humanism that brings physicians into the profession, and to teach the skills of narrative that help at the bedside and beyond.
Our program has curricular and extracurricular components. Reflective writing forms a significant component of the Professional Identity Formation thread in the MD curriculum. Electives in medical humanities range from exploration of narrative medicine to photo storytelling to improvisational acting. Students also conceive and complete individual or group projects for elective credit under the guidance of our faculty.
Extracurricular activities include a wide array of writing and narrative medicine workshops—some led by students—for students, residents, and hospital staff. “Narrative Medicine Talks” is our regular speaker series, and we convene fall and spring Story Slams for the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Temple Hospital Community.
Our program gives medical students and physicians skills and opportunities to reflect on their experiences, to find and celebrate meaning in their work, and to appreciate the value of the patient’s story in patient care.
We encourage publication and dissemination of our work in medical journals and the lay press. A narrative medicine page is home to much of our student writing, and each year students compile and publish The Pulse, our local literary magazine.
Stories are an indispensable part of medicine. Along with the physician’s touch, they are at the core of the patient-physician relationship. Stories have the power to heal, inspire, build relationships and change the world.
The Story of Baby Rey
A story that highlights the compassion of our clinicians, the complexity of our cases and the humanity of our patients.
By Michael Vitez | December 16, 2019
Fall 2019 Story Slam - Experiencing the Unexpected
Reflections on our sixth Story Slam, held on October 16, 2019.
By Michael Vitez | November 12, 2019
Neighbors of North Philadelphia
Each year, students in a narrative medicine elective, Neighbors of North Philly, take to the streets surrounding the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Temple University Hospital to meet our neighbors.
By Temple Narrative Medicine Program | September 16, 2019
Read the 2019 edition of our literary magazine, The Pulse
Filled with reflections, stories, poems and photographs all by students at LKSOM. We encourage you to enjoy and share.
By Temple Narrative Medicine Program | May 29, 2019
White Coat Reflections
All second year students at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine recently were asked to write reflections on wearing their white coat.
By Temple Narrative Medicine Program | May 16, 2019
24 hours in the life of an opioid epidemic
As seen by medical students at Temple's Episcopal Campus.
By Michael Vitez | April 14, 2019
Haunted by death of teens from gun violence, medical student undertakes photo and essay project in trauma bay
This project follows was his way of taking action, of doing something about the gun violence.
By Michael Vitez | April 2, 2019
2019 Winter Story Slam best one yet!
13 stories filled with honesty, vulnerability, hope and humanity!
By Michael Vitez | March 19, 2019
Temple nurses take road trip to Emerald City
Temple nurses collected clothing and supplies and delivered them to the homeless and drug-addicted who lived in Kensington under the Emerald Street bridge
By Michael Vitez | February 8, 2019
The Last Four Hours
Ghazal Khorrami is a second year medical student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
By Ghazal Khorrami | January 23, 2019
How working Christmas Eve in the hospital became this family's tradition
The Rosenberg family worked the Christmas holiday so that doctors who celebrate could have time off with their families.
By Naomi Rosenberg | December 20, 2018
At Temple, a med student faces a new reality of guns
Following the NRA’s tweet in November 2018 about doctors “staying in their lane,” Miranda felt moved to revise and update her story.
By Michael Vitez | November 30, 2018
Flying trays in room 846.
Portrait of a challenging patient and those who care for him.
By Michael Vitez | November 30, 2018
Black Men Gather to Promote Careers in Medicine.
33 present and aspiring physicians attended An Evening with Black Males in Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.
By Michael Vitez | November 14, 2018
Anatomy Donor Celebration
Reflections by the Class of 2022, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
By Michael Vitez | November 14, 2018
LKSOM Student Mai Stewart Builds Instagram Following With Her Whimsical Drawings About Medical School
Each of these drawings is a story, a reflection on her experiences in medical school, and a way for her to process and share her feelings.
By Michael Vitez | November 6, 2018
Don’t be a savior, just be a doctor, and listen!
Advice to med students from patients in North Philly
By Michael Vitez | August 22, 2018
TEAC goes to Puerto Rico!
Students reflect on their trip to help a ravaged nation
By Temple Emergency Action Corps (TEAC) | July 18, 2018
“I Do” in the ICU
Colleen Lyons and Mick Popowcer had been engaged so long, at least eight years, that he’d bought her two engagement rings.
By Michael Vitez | June 1, 2018
Read our latest edition of the literary magazine, The Pulse.
By Michael Vitez | May 22, 2018
The many forms of healing — reading to patients at dawn.
By Michael Vitez | May 1, 2018
Amtrak survivor returns to express thanks, share experience as a patient
By Michael Vitez | May 1, 2018
One Afternoon in Clinic (As Featured in ‘Pulse’)
By Miranda Haslam, M1 | March 12, 2018
Ice
By Joe Corcoran, M1 | March 12, 2018
Surgery in North Philadelphia
By Howard Ross, MD | March 12, 2018
Simply call him abuelo: Featured Student Essay
By Timothy McKinley | February 14, 2018
The Waiting Room
By Daniel Pustay | February 14, 2018
A Family Affair
By Michael Vitez | February 13, 2018
A doctor, a patient and the bond they form
By Michael Vitez | February 13, 2018
I Hear Temple Singing
By Michael Vitez | Dec 12, 2017
The Lung Brothers
Two strangers share a set of transplanted lungs, become bonded like brothers.
By Michael Vitez | November 15, 2017
Today, I hugged a stranger
And in the hallway, there he was — sobbing in a corner, alone.
By Dr. Edwin Acevedo, Jr | November, 1 2017
Birthday Gift
The trauma bay is overflowing with people, masked, gowned and gloved, before the ambulance arrives.
By Carlie Rose Wilson | November 1, 2017
Story Slam Recap: Stories that Heal, Inspire and Build Community
Stories do so many things — heal, inspire, and build community — all of which were on display in the story slam.
By Michael Vitez | October 19, 2017
One overdose story in a hospital with far too many
Just after 9 p.m. on a rainy Friday, the announcement came over the public address.
By Michael Vitez | October 19, 2017
He Got His New Heart. How About That Haircut?
He made a pact four years ago with a little boy, Dylan, 12, when they were both waiting for heart transplants at the Gift of Life House in Philadelphia.
By Michael Vitez | October 10, 2017
Help Beyond the Yoga Class
A month after her yoga class, a few days before the next one, Shekea Johnson had a scare and went to the emergency room.
By Michael Vitez | October 3, 2017
Give Conversation a Chance!
Danielle Ofri, doctor, writer, editor, told physicians at grand rounds on Wednesday at Temple University Hospital that listening is the best medicine.
By Michael Vitez | September 29, 2017
For Expecting Mothers, Time For Warrior 1
Yoga? Shekea Johnson didn’t know what to expect.
By Michael Vitez | August 16, 2017
A Walk in the Park
The other day, just after lunch, a man in a wheelchair was pushed out the main entrance to Temple University Hospital and rolled into the sunshine.
By Michael Vitez | July 24, 2017
Safe and Sound: Glimpses of two baby boxes being used in the home
Three mothers share how their families benefited from baby boxes.
By Alexandra Parfitt and Michael Vitez | May 22, 2017
This is How Inspiration Strikes: the Story Behind and Impact of Temple’s Baby Boxes
Temple was the first hospital in America to give away baby boxes, and Temple’s program made worldwide news
By Michael Vitez | May 8, 2017
Fighting Physician Burnout: Featured Student Essay
A great essay on physician burnout by fourth-year student Erin Barnes
April 5, 2017
The education of a doctor and the heroin addict she tried to help
As the hospitalist helped him, he also helped her.
By Michael Vitez | March 27, 2017
Portrait of compassion: Why does a patient donate his kidney to a stranger?
Tim Horner decided he would donate his kidney to a stranger, to start a phenomenon known as a kidney chain.
By Michael Vitez | March 14, 2017
First Story Slam: A dozen funny, powerful and heartbreaking narratives
The first Temple Story Slam was a glorious success.
By Michael Vitez | February 28, 2017
What does compassion look like?
Stories from inside the examination room.
By Michael Vitez | February 20, 2017
After transplant, a second act for Broadway performer
Frank Farrow's kidney went bad and he went into renal failure. And then he got a phone call.
By Michael Vitez | February 17, 2017
A medical student to her first cadaver: ‘The beauty and privilege of the moment’
An LKSOM medical student sees beyond dissecting her first cadaver to appreciate the experience.
By Madeline Lederer | February 9, 2017
Habit of the Heart
At Temple University Hospital, Dr. Jocelyn Edathil is dedicated to saving the lives and souls of her patients.
By Michael Vitez | December 21, 2016
It Takes Heart: Temple gives “Miracle Joe” a new heart and he spreads the love at Philly Heart Walk
Two years after Joseph Beinlich suffered a heart attack and became the recipient of Temple’s first total artificial heart, and a new human heart a year later, he took on the American Heart Association walk.
By Michael Vitez | November 11, 2016
A doctor-in-training learns bedside manners, the hard way
Michael Rockman went from being a med student to a patient. Now a med student once again, he shares some lessons he learned from his experience.
By Michael E. Rockman | October 17, 2016
The Art — and Sometimes Luck — of Medicine
Back in April, Lisa got the flu. After a few days, she told her daughter to call an ambulance. She couldn’t breathe. At a local hospital, doctors intubated her, induced a coma, and helicoptered her to Temple University Hospital. Read about her journey from the ICU to today - back home with her family and breathing without oxygen.
By Michael Vitez | October 13, 2016
How to Tell a Mother Her Child is Dead
Naomi Rosenberg is an emergency room doctor at Temple University Hospital. This essay appeared in the Review and Opinion Section of the New York Times on Sept. 4, 2016.
By Naomi Rosenberg | October 13, 2016
The Making of an American Doctor
“I find myself thinking about my family a lot these days. And for good reason. My journey to becoming a physician really started with their own.” Fourth year LKSOM student Matthew Trifan shares his story.
By Matthew Trifan | October 11, 2016
Bonding over Body Parts
Sam Hodge, a legal studies professor at Temple for 40 years, has taught Anatomy for Litigators and Forensic Medicine and Law. He had a sabbatical this fall so he offered to help teach anatomy to first year medical students. Learn more about this very special class.
By Michael Vitez | October 10, 2016
From White Coats to Cadavers: Temple’s Newest Medical Students Earn Their Rites of Passage
From the thrills of White Coat Ceremony to the marvels of anatomy lab – all within a few short days. Follow along with Temple's first-year medical students during an unforgettable set of experiences.
By Michael Vitez | August 12, 2016
The Artist in the Lobby
If you’ve ever spent time at Temple University Hospital, you may have seen Jonathan Thomas sketching away in the lobby. Thomas, an artist, has been coming to Temple for over 10 years.
By Michael Vitez | August 1, 2016
At Summer Camp, the Doctor Is In
How does Temple Health CEO Larry Kaiser, MD, FACS, spend his summer vacation? Serving as camp doctor for Tripp Lake Camp in Maine.
By Michael Vitez | July 20, 2016
What a moment! From fear to euphoria in a heartbeat
A woman early in her pregnancy recently came into Temple University Hospital fearing the worst for her unborn baby. Dr. Stephanie Barbetta was not only able to put her concerns to rest, but give her a moment she’ll never forget.
By Michael Vitez | July 15, 2016
After Orlando Shootings, Temple’s ER Staff Pays It Forward
In the wake of the Orlando shooting, many members of the Temple University Hospital Emergency Department (ED) decided to surprise their ED colleagues at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
By Michael Vitez | July 14, 2016
The Baby Is Ready to Go Home, But the Car Seat Is Broken. What Does Temple’s NICU Do?
Maria Sierra-Ortiz, 54, a social worker at Temple Hospital for over 20 years, and the Temple NICU staff pitches in to help a young mother.
By Michael Vitez | July 8, 2016
From Scrubs to Stage, Temple Resident Finds Meaning in Telling Stories
Temple resident Dr. Mohammed Nayeemuddin, known to patients and friends alike by his nickname, Zeeshan, deals with the emotion, isolation and intensity of intensive care by telling stories. He competes in New York and Philadelphia in what are known as story slams.
By Michael Vitez | June 2, 2016
Few thought he'd survive the night. But after 77 days, Temple's most critical Amtrak patient finally went home
A chronicle of the recovery of Aaron Levine, Temple University Hospital's most critical Amtrak 188 train derailment patient who spent 77 days in the ICU.
By Michael Vitez | May 12, 2016
Reflections from the physicians, staff and students who worked at Temple the night of the Amtrak derailment
One year ago, on May 12, at about 9:20 p.m,. Amtrak Train 188 derailed going through the Frankford Curve, about three miles from Temple University Hospital. There were 238 passengers on board; 54 were rushed to Temple, twice the number sent to any other hospital.
By Michael Vitez | May 12, 2016