Students publish journal about their experiences with the healthcare system
By Martha Young
Providence College students are sharing their experiences with the healthcare system through an innovative writing project. They wrote essays and created a new journal, Narrative Medicine: Essays on Health and Care, sponsored by the School of Nursing and Health Sciences and published by the Phillips Memorial Library’s Digital Commons.
The journal seeks to “bridge the gap between the often-impersonal nature of clinical practice and the deeply personal experiences of illness and healing,” said Bob Hackey, Ph.D., professor of health sciences.
The idea for the journal originated in the fall 2023 semester when Hackey taught a colloquium in the Honors Program called The Practice of Medicine. In addition to a traditional research paper, he asked students to share a personal narrative about an experience with the healthcare system. He reached out to Will Toner, assistant dean of student academic success and director of peer education in PC’s Writing Center, to enlist his support. Megan Lessard, head of digital projects and metadata in the Phillips Memorial Library, joined the initiative as a design editor.
In addition to offering writing tutor services to support the student authors, Toner enlisted the help of his friend Michael Stout, M.D., an urgent care physician, who spoke with Hackey’s students about his own experience writing medical narratives.
Stout’s interactions with the students underscored the importance of reflective practice in healthcare and supplemented the readings of other doctors’ narratives as part of the coursework. Stout joined Hackey’s classes in the fall and spring semesters as a guest lecturer and writing mentor.
“Anything that presents an alternative assignment to the norm is something I want to support,” Toner said. “Writing is part of the learning process.”
“There are so many different perspectives on healthcare,” Lessard said. “The journal cohesively lays out different views wrapped in a universal story.”
The journal will be published twice a year through PC’s Digital Commons, an open-access publishing system for research, scholarship, and creative expression. This approach is intended to enrich the students’ learning experiences and enhance their portfolios by providing them with published work and analytics to demonstrate the impact of their narratives.
Print editions of the journal were also made available for a launch party held on Saturday, October 19, during Homecoming Weekend.
The journal’s primary objective is to elevate the power of storytelling in understanding health and healthcare with the potential to improve healthcare delivery. By sharing their stories, Hackey said students are honing their writing skills and deepening their understanding of the healthcare system.
Narrative Medicine introduces readers to the personal narratives of eight students from Hackey’s courses in the 2023-24 academic year. Hackey invited students to publish their stories of illness and of receiving and providing care, highlighting the pitfalls and promise of the healthcare system.
“Storytelling is the foundation of being human,” Hackey said. “Narrative medicine serves as a vital reminder that medicine is, at its core, a deeply human endeavor.”
The student authors are:
- Alex Beauchene ’25, a biology major from Barkhamsted, Connecticut: “Him Again?”
- Demiana Boutros ’27, a health sciences major from Milford, Connecticut, “Lost in Translation”
- Vanessa Colina ’27, a health sciences major from Norton, Massachusetts: “Language Barriers and the Quality of Care”
- Jack Curtain ’24, an economics major from Plymouth, Massachusetts: “My Journey with Tinnitus”
- Colleen Dorrian ’25, a double major in health policy and management and business economics, from Williston Park, New York: “Is Compassion the Ultimate Medicine?”
- Kate Lindquist ’27, a health sciences major from Wellesley, Massachusetts: “How Well Do You Know Your Insurance?”
- Catherine Terminello ’27, a health sciences major from Paramus, New Jersey: “Coordinated Care”
- Caroline Tourgee ’24, a health policy and management major from Canton, Massachusetts: “Ghost”
Colina and Dorrian will join the student editorial board to review future submissions to the journal, along with Brianna De La Fuente ’27, a health sciences major from Metuchen, New Jersey; Rachel Medeiros ’25, a marketing and sociology double major from Fall River, Massachusetts; and Chloe Turano ’27, a health sciences major from Westerly, Rhode Island.
Colina, who wrote about her family’s experiences as non-native English speakers seeking a diagnosis for her childhood illness, said she wanted to provide a voice for children of immigrant parents.
“I knew my experience wasn’t uncommon, but no one talked about it,” Colina said. “That is what inspired me to write and share my narrative, to allow other Latino kids to acknowledge that they are not alone in these experiences and that a change in the American healthcare system is needed for all patients to receive quality care no matter what their first language is.”
From the perspective of a healthcare provider, Beauchene, who became an emergency medical technician during the COVID-19 pandemic, styled his narrative as a log of a recurring encounter with a challenging patient throughout a weekend on duty. Beauchene said his story reflects his experience as a first responder providing care to patients, such as those with substance abuse issues, who are often repetitive users of emergency response and hospital emergency services.
As a future physician applying to medical school, Beauchene believes his contribution to the journal allows him to stand out against his peers.
“Publishing something that is deeply and internally reflective will allow me to show medical schools and future employers that I am able to identify and work within a system that presents challenges on a daily basis,” Beauchene said.
Terminello wrote about her positive experience with healthcare during a childhood illness and resulting surgery. She said she wanted “to show that there are individuals who have good experiences with the healthcare system. I also wanted to show the exceptional care that my interdisciplinary team expressed for me and my family, because we were very grateful for them.”
Dorrian wrote about the immeasurable value of compassion on a patient’s hospital experience and health outcomes. In her aspirations to work in a non-clinical care role after graduation, Dorrian said, “My story sheds light on the ability of all professionals within healthcare to impact the lives of patients and their loved ones.”
Hackey and his colleagues hope the journal will become a springboard for other departmental collaborations.
“There should be something distinctive about a PC nursing and health sciences program, and I think this journal underscores that distinction,” Hackey said. “We want to graduate students who are not only competent at delivering healthcare but also think about how we deliver healthcare. We’re baking a professional education program inside a traditional liberal arts institution. Our students will be different.”
The Fund for Providence College supports the development of academic opportunities at PC, like this innovative writing project. A gift through The Fund for Providence College contributes to the success of faculty scholars and the students they teach.
