GP undergraduates'narrative competency development via reflective writing

Objective To develop GP majors' narrative competency and mental health service and foster narrative therapy and empathetic care in the community to meet the increasing need of primary care and rehabilitation therapy. Methods Qualitatively, we adopted content analysis and thematic analysis to explore general GP majors' narrative competency cultivation. Totally, 60 GP clerkship undergraduates, 60 hospitalized patients and 60 doctors from the teaching hospital named the1st Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University co-participated in reflective writing concerning their clinical training, medical treatment and doctoring experiences respectively. Results Doctors, GP undergraduates and patients all value such themes as self-reflection, doctor-patient empathy and communication. Both doctors and patients value illness narration. Comparatively, doctors attach greater importance to clinical competency, self-health and resilience, patients to doctors' behavior, family support, hospital humanistic care and service, GP undergraduates to professional competency and development and getting to know patients. A narrative model was constructed to develop GP majors' narrative competency, namely, the combination of narration from doctors, patients, family and hospital. Significantly, doctors, GP clerkship majors and patients all value such factors as doctor-patient empathy and communication and reflection. Conclusions Undoubtedly, the essence of medicine is the care of body and mind. GP majors should develop collaborative patient-centered care, get to know patients and improve doctor-patient communication and empathetic competency and self-reflection, skills, self-health management and resilience, ultimately clinically competent for not handling disease, but also take good care of both body and mind. GP majors are expected to develop their insight into narrative therapy and nurture humanism to better primary care in the community. Narrative competency cultivation of clerkship GPs by reflective writing plays an important role in fixing doctor-patient relationship, rebuilding doctor-patient community and improving body and mind care and personalizing and customizing the patients care.