Connecting Through Trust: Practical and Literary Experiences of Doctor-Patient Interactions (2009)

Undergraduate: John Meyer

Faculty Advisor: Inger Brodey
Department: English & Comparative Literature

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This project examines trust as the foundation for effective interactions between doctors and patients across a wide range of settings. In order to build and maintain their patients’ trust, physicians present themselves to patients in understandable terms by assuming different personas. This paper focuses on three personas that doctors assume: scientists, leaders, and parents. The authority inherent to these personas exists on a continuum and plays a significant role in determining the types of relationships that form between doctors and patients. While this paper uses fictional and nonfictional sources from a range of cultural settings, rather than focusing on historical differences, I argue for a connectivity and continuity within the medical profession across specialties, cultures, and time periods. The recurrence of certain personas suggests a more universal set of archetypal relations between patient and healer. The thesis utilizes two types of evidence for its claims: literary and experiential. First-hand observation in vastly different medical settings in North Carolina and a small town in Honduras provides a practical awareness of the social complexities inherent to medicine. Literature provided a means by which to extend my exploration of the medical dynamic to fictional and historical settings. Authors also supply greater insight into the psychology of doctors and patients during medical interactions.