JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Despite growing evidence that expertise in narrative competence may benefit cancer care professionals and the field, few hematology-oncology trainees pursue graduate degrees in the humanities during fellowship. For those trainees with a particular interest in humanism in medicine, we advocate for integration of a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree concurrent with fellowship training. This pathway enables trainees to gain advanced skills in narrative competence, informing research and scholarly activities during fellowship and building a foundation for future careers that promote humanism in the field of hematology-oncology across clinical practice, education, research, and advocacy. Narrative competence refers to one’s ability to create space for and elevate the voices of patients, families, and clinicians through active listening, reflecting, sharing, finding meaning in, and being moved by stories. In this article, we review evidence suggesting that frequent exposure to suffering increases burnout and threatens career longevity for cancer care clinicians, and narrative competence offers a humanistic approach to mitigate moral distress, improve wellbeing, and bolster resilience for our workforce. The influence of narrative competence extends beyond patient care, with meaningful ramifications for advancing research, education, and advocacy efforts across the field. In this article, we encourage institutions with hematology-oncology fellowship programs that have capacity to support graduate studies to include the MFA as an option for trainees who aim to become thought leaders and experts in narrative competence. The MFA serves as a strategic mechanism to invest in growing the next generation of hematologists-oncologists with expertise in narrative competence to advance the field.