Poetry in Neurosurgery: A Scoping Review with Select Poems by Influential Neurosurgeon-Poets

Neurosurgery is regarded as a skilled specialty practice within medicine and poetry is regarded as a therapeutic art within the health humanities. The utilization of poetry in neurosurgery can be used to unite physician and patient to the experience of living through chronic illness while facing mortality. The purpose of this scoping review is to highlight the effect of utilizing poetry in neurosurgical care, and to explore the value of this integration. This scoping review was conducted through 2 bibliographic databases (PubMed and SCOPUS). The keywords “poetry” AND “neurosurgery” were utilized to find all publications. Poems by 2 influential neurosurgeon-poets were also included for analysis. The search defined 32 publications (21 results in PubMed and 11 in Scopus). Two of the results were selected poems by influential neurosurgeon-poets. After removing 9 duplicates and 1 non-English result, 22 publications and 2 poems were reviewed. Eight articles addressed the use of poetry for neurosurgeons and 2 examined the utilization of poetry for neurosurgery patients. Fourteen publications addressed poetry, or other humanities disciplines, that were not specifically directed toward neurosurgeons or neurosurgery patients. In a field involved with life-altering diagnoses or treatments, poetry can enhance the therapeutic connection between surgeon and patient, empowering neurosurgeons to understand their patient's predicament beyond diagnosis while granting them a way to process challenging experiences. Though limited in description in the research literature, implementation of therapeutic poetry into neurosurgical practice may hold potential to contribute meaningfully to physician-patient relationships.