Clinical records: the medical writing from the patient's story to the medical narrative.

Abstract

A historical follow-up on the medical diaries about the patient is made, from the Hippocratic texts to the appearance of the current canon of the clinical history formulated by Boerhaave in the seventeenth century, through the medieval consilia and the curationes and observationes of the Renaissance; and it is discussed how much the patient's story is present in those writings. It is postulated that the medical narrative that starts from adequately listening to the patient and his story, and adopts a literary workshop format, it is a pedagogical tool that contributes to comprehensive medical training, and offers the patient the opportunity to be treated in an empathic and humanized environment.