Poetry’s Role in Healthcare

Greeting Stewards, 

Here at PAHS we emphasize how important it is to incorporate humanities into healthcare. It has been proven time and time again that empathic providers lead to better patient care. But how can providers practice being more empathetic? This may come as a surprise but the answer is poetry.

According to Aiken Source, a South Carolina news organization, poetry plays an important role in healthcare. David Kesler writes, “The power of poetry in medicine is to aid in the healing of illness, grief and loss. Whereas poetry occupies less than 10 percent of medical humanities healthcare literature, poetic medicine programs are growing across the United States and hopefully poetry will continue to do so.” 

Read more in the article for more examples of how poetry not only aids providers but patients as well! Join us over on Circle as well to voice your thoughts on creating more empathy through poetry. 

Warmly, 

Asheanna