title: "Fact" and "fiction": enlivening health care education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper aims to demonstrate how close analysis of cultural narratives can be employed as effective pedagogical tools in the explication and critique of specific workplace issues relevant to health management education.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two narratives have been selected to illustrate this point: the apparently "fictional" UK-based medical television drama series Bodies (2005-2006) and the apparently "factual" report of an Australian state government public inquiry into acute health care, the Garling Report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Through their demonstration of how analyses of selected segments of these texts can be used in health management education, the authors conclude that the comparative analyses of ostensibly "fictional" and "factual" narratives allow for analysis and critique of the inadequacies of new public management (NPM) applied to the health care industry, leading to a greater understanding of wider ideological effects on public perceptions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The authors argue that these understandings enliven students' learning experiences, and that such comparative analyses should be applied more widely across health management education to develop students' critical skills and openness to exploring alternative models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Comparative analysis of cultural texts is novel in health care education, and allows for the interrogation of ideology and its effects.
authors: UNE Business School, University of New England, Armidale, Australia. asherida@une.edu.au
authors: Alison
authors: A
authors: Sheridan
authors: UNE Business School, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
authors: Jane
authors: J
authors: O'Sullivan
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D004324:Drama; D058016:Health Facility Administration / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008402:Mass Media; D009517:New South Wales; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D058028:Research Report; D013664:Teaching Materials; D006113:United Kingdom