<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;"><span style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">In Peter D. Kramer’s New York Times piece published in the ‘Couch’ section on October 18, 2014 (</span><a style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;" href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/why-doctors-need-stories/">Why Doctors Need Stories</a><span style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">) he affirms the experience of learners, educators, and researchers in his arguments that a case vignette can provide a kind of instruction that cannot be duplicated by data collection alone. While we do still need evidence based material to assure safety and efficacy of treatments, the case study offers contextual material that makes the evidence come to life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">As a Clinical Ethicist each clinical encounter is rich with substantive information that is part of an individual or family story intersecting with the healthcare setting. When invited to provide input, support, or recommendations in any given case, the most informative elements of any case are the story of the patient. What was before, what is now, and what the future may require is different for each patient, and I am often awed by the ‘before.’ The contextual landscape of each story is often where we come to understand the psychosocial factors that weigh heavily in how a patient, family, or community interacts with the healthcare community. Hard data is not as useful as hearing the story that belongs to the patient.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px;"><strong style="line-height: 19.0400009155273px; color: #34405b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The Alden March Bioethics Institute offers a Master of Science in Bioethics, a Doctorate of Professional Studies in Bioethics, and Graduate Certificates in Clinical Ethics and Clinical Ethics Consultation. For more information on AMBI's online graduate programs, please visit our <a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #000099;" href="/Academic/bioethics/index.cfm">website</a>.</strong></p>
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