The Power of Stories

Among the sea of new information and inspiring voices from today, I left grappling with one idea in particular. I’m contemplating the role of story telling in today’s data-driven world, where we are rapidly acquiring more analytics than we know how to make sense of.

Recently, during my time doing summer research in Baltimore, I began attending the weekly case conference of the Neuroimmunology department. The presentation of challenging cases was interesting in itself, but the response of the other physicians was what fascinated me most. I’ve been taught the power of the scientific method and evidence-based medicine for as long as I can remember. When the physicians were explaining their reasons for ordering or repeating obscure tests to rule out unlikely diagnoses for these tough cases, he/she almost always started with a story. We heard about that one patient that the physician had cared for as a resident who… Continue reading →