Graphic Medicine
Information on the use of the comics medium to explore issues in healthcare.
Provider/Student Perspectives
Books in the Health Sciences Library
The Bad Doctor by A doctor doubts his ability to make decisions about the lives of others when he may need more than a little help himself.
Taking Turns by A graphic memoir and adapted oral history of Unit 371, an inpatient AIDS care hospital unit in Chicago that was in existence from 1985 to 2000. Examines the human costs of caregiving and the role art can play in the grieving process.
Doc-Related by Anecdotes and comics supported with timely data presented in a satirical format. Discusses what’s broken in our health care system and how we can work to fix it
The Lady Doctor by A realistic, yet witty, portrait of the politics and pitfalls of a small-town practice.
Webcomics
- Annals of Internal Medicine: Graphic MedicineBrings together original graphic narratives, comics, animation/feature, and other creative forms by those who provide or receive health care. They address medically relevant topics—be they poignant, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining.
- Frontline Comics ProjectThese powerful stories from the COVID pandemic are collaborations between frontline workers and comic artists.
- The Boon DocsA comic about practicing medicine in a small town.
- Covid ChroniclesAn illustrated online feature chronicling personal accounts of life and death from the frontlines of COVID-19.
- Dailies Of A Junior DocWebcomic told by a young female resident in Sudan that explores scarcity of healthcare resources, violence against doctors, gender roles and their impact on the mental health of healthcare workers and patient care
- The Ink VesselCreative hub of Nathan Gray, a doctor specializing in Internal Medicine and Palliative Care. He uses comics and other artwork to promote empathy, educate others, and sometimes explore the ironies of the medical world.
- Missed ItA physician reflects on a harrowing mistake he made as an intern that still haunts him today.
- The Over-Caffeinated MedicObservations and reflections of a paramedic.
- The Vitals: True nurse StoriesA tribute from Marvel Comics to nurses working relentlessly to fight Covid 19
Student Perspectives
- Collection of Graphic Narratives from Penn State Medical StudentsA collection of graphic stories by fourth-year medical students at Penn State College of Medicine, from 2009 to present day.
- Diagnosis: Medical StudentMusings from a med student about life in med school- in comics format
- Excerpt from "Taking Turns – Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371”The first pages of Czerwiec’s graphic novel, “Taking Turns – Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371”, show Czerwiec in some of her first days in nursing.
- The Med StudentCandid and moving reflections from a medical student's experience in the hospital
Additional Resources
- The Shame ConversationExperiences of shame are powerful, deeply held, and infrequently shared; finding the words to describe them can be difficult. These 2 graphics are accompanied by questions for individual reflection and/or group discussion. Part of the Shame and Medicine Project
- Shame in Medicine: An Audio Documentary Storytelling SeriesAudio documentary to go live in Fall 2022.