Investigating the Effects of a Short Narratology Education Module on Empathy and Patient-centred Communication in Early-stage Medical Students.

At RCSI Dublin, mentioned by James Joyce in Dubliners, a one-week student-choice module Narrative Medicine: lessons from Irish writers and storytellers was offered to those in the second of our five-year undergraduate medical degree program, i.e., students were 18-months into the curriculum, had limited communication skills training, and no real-world clinical exposure. The module used close reading, group viewing, small-group workshops, and whole-group discussions to foster narrative competence. A medically-trained narratology-expert facilitated students' interrogation of classic and award-winning non-healthcare themed works by Irish writers and storytellers, i.e., directors and/or producers.