Develop a creative writing workshop for participants to learn about reviewing, editing, and revising their own and their peers’ writing and submitting work for publication in medical journals. 

Recognizing the role narrative medicine can play in the development of humane and effective physicians, we created a 4-6 week writing workshop for medical students to share pieces and receive feedback to prepare for submission.  Students actively worked on prose or poetry and got feedback from peers and experienced faculty to improve their writing. 

Students were recruited from the Vanderbilt University Medical School, with additional participants from Neurology and Internal Medicine residents. Enrollment was capped at eight participants to ensure adequate time for feedback. The workshop met weekly for 1.5 hours over 4-6 weeks. Sessions included three that began with a faculty-led didactic (e.g., how to give and receive reviewer feedback), then 15 minutes to discuss each participant’s work. Other sessions were for writing and/or additional review of work.

We ran a pilot program September 2023 and three full iterations 2024-2025. We administered pre- and post-workshop surveys to gauge participants’ knowledge of the writing process and workshop impact. 

Surveys indicated what attendees found most valuable was revising their writing with feedback to prepare for submission and learning the submission process. 

Five narrative medicine pieces from the workshop were published in peer-reviewed medical journals, including one in JAMA Neurology. 

Our feedback, students’ success publishing, and continued enrollment suggest we are meeting medical students’ need to process their experiences through writing and polishing work for publication. The cap on the number of attendees limits participation, but allows a trusted community to form.  This program can be adapted to another medical school or residency program with experienced faculty and fits with the AANAM 2026 theme of “Arts, Humanities, and Narrative.”