Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1219671
t m c n e w s . o r g 26 Top of page: The journal of patient experience nurse navigator D'Ann Bailey is devoted to her personal jour- ney with breast cancer. Left: Clinical coordinator of emergency services Stacy Nigliazzo drew morgue doors in her journal after carrying a baby to the morgue. Below: Brittany Graves drew a picture of Nigliazzo on her way to the morgue with the baby. Because he is so young—50—he has recovered extremely well, but that is not how he sees it. He said to me, 'I guess life goes on even when you're completely broken.' And I said, 'You are not completely broken. Completely broken people do not know they are broken.'" That last phrase made it into her journal, on the same page as her drawing of the handicapped logo. On the opposite page, Thornton copied a poem longhand by writer and stroke survivor Jon Obermeyer that leans toward the positive: New brain cells sprout/ like green seedlings on the forest floor/ the first responders. Another journaler has kept to a specific theme. D'Ann Bailey's journal is devoted entirely to her own health story, which took a dramatic turn more than a year ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "I decided to write down the journey, not only for me to kind of get it down on paper, but for my children to look back," said Bailey, a patient experience nurse navigator who works bedside with patients and meets with staff to ensure that patients' needs are being met. "This morning, I grabbed the journal on my way out the door and started flipping through. In here is not only the journey, but lists of the people who brought food, the people who sent cards and gifts. The time I cried for two days straight. … I'm so grateful I can go back and remember." Nigliazzo's journaling project springs from a broader movement in medicine that took formal shape a few decades ago, when universities and medical institu- tions began to launch narrative medicine degrees and programs. Narrative medicine emphasizes storytelling skills—listening, observing, interpreting, reporting, writing—to improve care and provide