Introduction: The Critical Care Societies Collaborative released a statement in 2016 calling for increased recognition of burnout in critical care providers and potential interventions. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for mechanisms to prevent burnout and promote resilience has substantially increased, making this call to action even more important. Previous studies indicate that critical care providers’ engagement with the medical humanities, including narrative medicine (NM), may improve burnout by promoting community and positively impacting psychological indices. The current study aims to quantify the acceptability of a year-long NM curriculum among pulmonary/critical care (PCC) and critical care medicine (CCM) trainees.
Methods: The NM curriculum, comprised of 6 voluntary workshops, was available to 36 PCC and CCM fellows during the 2024-25 academic year. Three workshops were conducted on-campus during regularly scheduled didactics and three off-campus during the evening. Each workshop included (1) a brief introduction to NM, (2) reading of a poetry or prose piece rooted in medicine, (3) guided discussion of themes and emotions evoked, (4) time to complete a short writing prompt, and (5) opportunity to share aloud. At the end of each session, participants were provided an acceptability survey assessing unique domains of the theoretical framework of acceptability, with responses collected on a 5-point Likert scale. Qualitative responses to the workshops were also collected.
Results: 38 completed surveys were collected from 16 distinct participants (representing 44% of eligible fellows), of whom 7 were pulmonary and 9 were critical care fellows. Workshop attendance ranged from 3 to 8, averaging 6.3 (SD 1.9). General acceptability remained high across all workshops (mean 4.7, SD 0.39) with 97.4% of responses indicating participants were likely or very likely to participate in another workshop. Suggestions for improved curriculum included the incorporation of visual art and alternate times for workshops.
Conclusions: Acceptability of NM workshops remained high across a one-year curriculum for PCC and CCM fellows. Additional study is needed to understand barriers to participation and to streamline NM curricula in this population.
