A Close Reading of Creative Writing in SCOPE, the Medical School Literary Magazine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

A growing body of literature examines the link between medical students and creative writing. It focuses mostly on reflective writing seminars with specific objectives in mind. There has been nothing found in the literature that examines medical student creative writing for its own sake. This dissertation looked at medically related creative writing contributed to a medical school literary magazine in Illinois from 1994-2013. Using literary analysis and coding for medical humanities attributes (Gold Foundation I.E.C.A.R.E.S.), this dissertation’s study assessed the ratio of medically related works to non-medically related works, identified kinds of magazine contributors, and determined incidence of medically related topics. It also provided a close reading of several pieces in relation to medical humanities attributes. It is hoped that this study will open further avenues for looking at creative writing as an important tool in medical education.