ABSTRACT
Narrative medicine can help practitioners as well as patients, by providing tools and strategies to help decrease burnout and compassion fatigue, minimize guilt, and manage distress.
A narrative medicine strategy to decrease burnout involves emphasizing the unique stories of patients and clients rather than focusing solely on their medical conditions.
Working in close proximity to the distress and grief of others can be traumatizing. Euthanasia and end-of-life discussions are unique to the veterinary profession, and their effects on practitioners can be profound. Compassion fatigue is explored in detail, and compared to empathy fatigue.
This chapter includes a discussion of the importance of boundaries. Narrative medicine can help practitioners recognize where their own stories begin and those of their clients and patients end. The Overlapping Narratives model is used to explore how practitioners can imagine separating from the stories and worlds of their clients and patients and reenter their own narratives.
