ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the narrative features of the patient and of the caregiver, and their relationship. It discusses the functions of narrative in caregiving relationships, and the landscapes within the illness narratives. Physicians manage a database of scientific knowledge and are required to interpret the data in the context of a particular patient's experience. The person seeking care from the health care practitioner often approaches the relationship with some degree of brokenness or vulnerability, and in search of healing. Russell Kirk's perspective has value in medical work, as health care practitioners are best positioned to serve those who seek their care if they operate from a framework in which the intrinsic goodness and value of those being served is understood as a given. The chapter also discusses the critical importance of self-awareness and reflective practice in narrative medicine.
