Narrativa y formación docente: la experiencia de 5 años de un taller de escritura / Narrative and faculty development: results of a five years experience with a creative writing workshop

ABSTRACT

Background: Narrative medicine has showed to be a powerful instrument to reinforce relationships, identity, and self-knowledge among health professionals. Subjective issues have been recently recognized as relevant for faculty development in addition to the technical aspects. Since 2006 a creative writing workshop has been included as part of the Diploma in Medical Education at the medical school of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Aim: To describe the experience and results of the creative writing workshop (2006-2010). Material and Methods: Descriptive and retrospective study with a qualitative and quantitative design. Thirty-six teachers of the School of Medicine attended a 12-hour workshop. The Kirkpatrick model for evaluation of educational outcomes was used to report the data obtained in the course evaluation survey and in the stories produced. Results: There were positive results at the four levels of Kirkpatrick evaluation model. The learning objectives of the workshop were achieved and 83 stories were created, compiled and published. Conclusions: The creative writing workshop can provide faculty with protected time for reflective practice about academic experiences and produce educational outcomes at different levels of the Kirkpatrick model.