A study of story telling, humour and learning in medicine

Eighth H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Fellowship: In this book Sir Kenneth Calman provides a refreshing glimpse into how to deal with stress, improve bedside manner and retain a level head in an increasingly frantic medical world.

Tracing the history of story telling and humour in medicine back as far as Aristotle, Sir Kenneth aims to show how doctors and nurses, past and present, have used humour and story telling in their work for the benefit of both patients and themselves alike. He demonstrates how the various forms of story telling - from case notes to medical textbooks, anecdotes to classical literature and even the world wide web - can help to put medical problems in a new perspective.