North Collins, a charming village south of Buffalo, was first settled in 1809 and has a long, rich history. Their historian and our host, Georgeanne Bowman, published a book on the history of the area in 2002 entitled Around North Collins.

Pam briefly outlined the history of the Health Sciences Library, particularly the illustrious background of our beautiful Austin Flint Main Reading Room, with its Kittinger crafted woodwork and carved mantle and chandeliers taken from a former Knox mansion. Linda then spoke at length about connections between physicians from the North Collins area who practiced during the 19th and 20th centuries and the University and City of Buffalo. Throughout the presentation, appropriate books and instruments were passed around to attendees to highlight and reinforce the information.

The occasion was an open house celebrating a topical exhibit on “Medicine” prepared by historian Bowman, which included artifacts and displays from past and present. The exhibit included a tooth key from the 1800s, a WWI pedal-powered dental drill and surgical tools from the mid-1900s, as well as displays of Civil War and earlier period medicine. Specially prepared books included “A Night in ER,” and a book of colonial remedies called “Aren’t Ye Glad They Don’t Do THIS Any More?”

Of special delight was the discovery that some of the Society’s exhibit materials were in fact derived from the History of Health Sciences web pages and the UBdigit entries for some of our instruments.

Pamela M. Rose
Web Services & Library Promotions Coordinator

Linda Lohr
Manager, History of Health Sciences Collection

• Model of the upper and lower jaw made from a real jaw (from 1870)
• Enamel powder and enamel colormeter
• Dental pluggers (used for packing and condensing filling material for caries) from 1891
• Dental forceps from 1840
• Dental pelican (used to pull teeth) from the Civil War era
• Upper molar extracting forceps from the early 20th century
• Tooth key (used to pull teeth) from the 19th century

The Edgar R. McGuire Historical Medical Instrument Collection in the History of Medicine department has even more dental instruments and materials. Including this thumb-operated dental drill (ouch!).

The History of Medicine is a working collection. Please feel free to stop by and take a look at the treasures it holds.

You can also take a look at some of the instruments on Flickr.

Linda Hasman
Reference & Education Services
lmhasman@buffalo.edu

HSL extends a big thank you to everyone who donated books and to all who shopped for books! Positive feedback has convinced us to make this an annual event.

Looking for leisure reading for the winter break?  Hoping for holiday shopping at bargain-basement prices?  Whenever you need some light reading material, we have a selection of fiction and non-fiction titles at the on-going dollar-a-book sale in the HSL lobby.

Narrative medicine refers to “clinical practice fortified by narrative competence – the capacity to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness.”¹ Rita Charon, who first coined the term in 2000, goes on to say that, “Simply, it is medicine practiced by someone who knows what to do with stories.”

Experts in the Department of Medicine and Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University offer narrative training to build skills in attentive listening, adopting others’ perspectives, accurate representation, and reflective reasoning. They are convinced that narrative competence enables practitioners to more fully comprehend patients’ experiences and the value of all that patients tell and to more fully understand what they themselves undergo as clinicians. Intrigued, I attended a 3-day intensive workshop in October presented by core faculty in the thick of it that focused on re-conceptualizing empathy, narrative ethics, bearing witness, and illness narratives, and how clinical practice might be changed for the better through this practice.

Joining me and other Americans were participants from South Africa, France, Italy, Canada, and Australia. Most were physicians, of every stripe, but the group also welcomed a health sciences librarian and nurse (me), several specialty nurses, a novelist, a cartoonist, and other educators and health practitioners. The goal we shared was our interest in learning about the three movements that underpin the conceptual basis of narrative medicine – attention, representation, and its ultimate goal, affiliation. Especially we wanted to learn from those immersed in this endeavor how listening for stories, hearing, and being moved by them might effectively change the delivery of health care and reveal meaning in clinical practice.

From whom did we learn? An unparalleled team of educators and clinicians rich in talent and viewpoints who honored each other: Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D, Director and Founder, Craig Irvine, Syantani DasGupta, Maura Spiegel, Eric Marcus, and Patricia Stanley - an internist and English scholar, a philosopher and ethicist, a pediatrician, a professor of English, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, a patient advocate – and writers all. Most impressive was their compassion, modeling, fluent discussion and honest assessments of their significant work to date. As a participant, it was intensely satisfying to hear engaging presentations and then work in small groups to build skills elemental to narrative competence.

Are you interested in learning more? Here are some suggestions:

• Read Rita Charon’s book.² (Yes, the Health Sciences Library has a copy!) Charon is an engaging and prolific author and a Medline search will provide plenty of food for thought.
• Visit The Program in Narrative Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University at http://www.narrativemedicine.org/

I would be delighted to discuss this topic more fully with anyone who is interested. Please contact me at hslscm@buffalo.edu or visit http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/hslblog/Nursing/

I welcome your thoughts.

Sharon Murphy
Associate Librarian, RN
Reference & Education Services, HSL

^1. Charon, Rita. What to do with stories: The sciences of narrative medicine. Canadian Family Physician 2007 Aug; 53(8): 1265
^2. Charon, Rita. Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. 2006. New York: Oxford University Press