I find the topic of friends in relation to Facebook very interesting and perplexing. This week a very interesting article about how many friends Facebook users can handled was posted on Mashable. From my personal experiences, some use Facebook to connect professionally, some purely relationally among friends, and some gather as many friends as possible. Are you a Facebook user? How do you determine who is a “friend”?
While I can’t tell a good joke, mainly because I forget the climactic punch line, I love to share experiences. In the past few years, I’ve realized that many call this experiences their stories. About a year ago I attended a workshop on digital storytelling and truly felt the power of THE story. Stories are personal, reflective, and lead to shared experiences between the listener and the teller.
My research passion for the past three years has been hospitalist communication practices. While this might sound like a yawner to some, it is fascinating to me. The fascination comes from the stories; the perspectives of physicians who share their world with me. I am truly grateful for each one of these individuals because, bottom line, it takes a bit of braverly to share with a stranger personal struggles, challenges, unmet expectations. The successes are easy to share. I’m reading a book by Dr. Lisa Sanders, Every Patient Tells A Story. While I’m in the process of reading, I will share that this book has been everything I hoped it would be. Knowing that the intended audience is not a host of academics I’ve appreciated her candor and her STORIES.
An individual can express an opinion, but when they support that opinion with a story it takes on a life of its own. For example, Dr. Sanders discusses the physical exam and spends a chapter on the sight. She includes a wonderful quote by Sherlock Holmes to Dr. John Watson, “I have trained myself to notice what I see” (90). Her topic is learning what to see and noticing what to see. I’m currently reading her stories about seeing the patient during the exam. In other words, observations through sight. One of her stories, however, is of a physician who is blind but it is through the story that you see her point and also appreciate the physican and what he can mean to a certain segment of the patient population. What I notice from the story is the risk the physician took to share his story. Very powerful because through the story we all have a new appreciation of “seeing” the patient. I’m sure I’ll return to this topic.
Applications to the classroom? The power of students sharing their story and, likewise, the professor. Hm…..
