Dumpling Soup
Dumpling Soup
Last year I ran a modular course for a group of GP trainers in Israel. I went out there three times, for a few days at a time, to teach a model of communication skills. Most of the work was interactional, done in small groups or discussion by the whole class. However, there was a need for theoretical learning, so I prepared some presentations on the underlying theory of the model, drawn from a variety of sources including communication theory, complex adaptive systems, and narrative studies.
The relationship between theory and practice is an interesting one, especially in an area like communication skills. Some people seem able to master the theory easily but cannot actually apply it. Others seem naturally gifted in communicating with patients but beyond a certain point they get frustrated by doing this without exactly knowing why. They want to know more about the principles that govern good communication. So the question arises—for both kinds of people—what is the ideal balance between learning the theory and just practising? This question came up a lot in discussion during the Israeli course and together we came up with an answer: dumpling soup.
Now, in order to understand this improbable answer, you first need a bit of cultural background. Dumpling soup (most commonly chicken soup with dumplings in it) is a proverbial dish in Israeli and European Jewish culture. It is a staple of every home. Everyone claims that their own mother's soup—or grandmother's—is superior to any other soup they have ever tasted. Mothers and grandmothers traditionally make it for a child who is ill, so it has acquired the well-known description of 'Jewish penicillin'. But it is also important to get the consistency of the dumplings exactly right, hence the equally well-known curse: 'May your bullets turn into dumplings and your dumplings into bullets'. And it is important to put the right number of dumplings into each bowl of soup. Too few dumplings and it isn't really dumpling soup. Too many, and it isn't a soup any more.
Taking this cultural knowledge into account, you can probably now see its applicability to the dilemma of how much theory to include on a practical course in communication skills. However, once we had hit on the metaphor out of pure fun, we found it carried more philosophical weight than we expected. Dumpling soup moved from being a pleasant joke to becoming a powerful symbol for what we were trying achieve: a mode of medical communication that was both spontaneous and disciplined at the same time.
Abstract and Introduction
Introduction
Last year I ran a modular course for a group of GP trainers in Israel. I went out there three times, for a few days at a time, to teach a model of communication skills. Most of the work was interactional, done in small groups or discussion by the whole class. However, there was a need for theoretical learning, so I prepared some presentations on the underlying theory of the model, drawn from a variety of sources including communication theory, complex adaptive systems, and narrative studies.
The relationship between theory and practice is an interesting one, especially in an area like communication skills. Some people seem able to master the theory easily but cannot actually apply it. Others seem naturally gifted in communicating with patients but beyond a certain point they get frustrated by doing this without exactly knowing why. They want to know more about the principles that govern good communication. So the question arises—for both kinds of people—what is the ideal balance between learning the theory and just practising? This question came up a lot in discussion during the Israeli course and together we came up with an answer: dumpling soup.
Now, in order to understand this improbable answer, you first need a bit of cultural background. Dumpling soup (most commonly chicken soup with dumplings in it) is a proverbial dish in Israeli and European Jewish culture. It is a staple of every home. Everyone claims that their own mother's soup—or grandmother's—is superior to any other soup they have ever tasted. Mothers and grandmothers traditionally make it for a child who is ill, so it has acquired the well-known description of 'Jewish penicillin'. But it is also important to get the consistency of the dumplings exactly right, hence the equally well-known curse: 'May your bullets turn into dumplings and your dumplings into bullets'. And it is important to put the right number of dumplings into each bowl of soup. Too few dumplings and it isn't really dumpling soup. Too many, and it isn't a soup any more.
Taking this cultural knowledge into account, you can probably now see its applicability to the dilemma of how much theory to include on a practical course in communication skills. However, once we had hit on the metaphor out of pure fun, we found it carried more philosophical weight than we expected. Dumpling soup moved from being a pleasant joke to becoming a powerful symbol for what we were trying achieve: a mode of medical communication that was both spontaneous and disciplined at the same time.
