Nephrology meets Nursing and Narrative Medicine: a methodological triangulation research. A new approach to this disease

Abstract

Introduction: In the late 20th Century, Kleinman and Good created Narrative Medicine (NM). In the following years, this method made its way in healthcare, reaching the peak in 2009 when R. Charon set up the first academic course of Narrative Medicine. Nevertheless, NM is still not well known and used. The main goal of this survey is attempting to understand the emotions felt by the patient while telling his/her own illness’ experience and then understand whether this approach improves therapy.

Methods: The survey is developed through a methodological triangulation research consisting of a qualitative part, where 24 stories selected from the first two editions of “Quirino Maggiore” National Competition were analysed through the Van Kaam method, and a quantitative research, performed through a questionnaire submitted to patients suffering from chronic kidney disease thanks to the National Association of Hemodialysis Patients (ANED) and to Onlus Santa Maria Annunziata, Bagno a Ripoli, Florence. We received responses from 219 patients between 24 September 2021 and 18 October 2021.

Results: The qualitative research identified 94 expressions grouped in 10 labels in which the most representative themes come to light. Through the questionnaire we can see that most people are not familiar with Nursing and Narrative Medicine, but that they consider the relationship between patients and healthcare workers very important.

Conclusions: Although it’s impossible to generalize the results, we can understand that Nursing and Narrative Medicine should be more integrated into the care pathway. Furthermore, healthcare workers should be trained in a suitable way.