Summary
The practice of medicine is unpredictable. Every day, clinicians must communicate with an ever-changing cast of patients and colleagues, in ever-changing environments and circumstances. To practice compassionate, collaborative medicine in this environment, clinicians must constantly think on their feet in order to navigate difficult situations and care for others while caring for themselves. In other words, clinicians must improvise. Improvisation is the expertise of adaptation, a cultivated intuition that guides spontaneity. Medical improvisation is the adaptation of improvisational theatre training methods to the healthcare context, promoting collaborative patient care through improved communication, cognition, and wellbeing. In this session, Dr. Belinda Fu describes her experiences with Medical Improv as a physician, patient, and educator, and explains its power to improve communication skills through experiential learning. With compelling stories and interactive exercises, she explores how improvisation can increase awareness, create rapport, and improve one’s ability to thrive in unpredictability. Belinda shares personal examples of how improv skills can deeply connect clinicians to the humanity of others during the complex communication challenges that pervade the practice of medicine.
Workshop Downloads
Objectives
- Define medical improvisation and its relevance to medical practice and education
- Describe the core skills of medical improvisation
- Explain the relevance of improvisation to wellness and resilience
References
- Watson K, Fu B. Medical Improv: A novel approach to communication and professionalism training. Ann Intern Med. 2016;165:591-592.
- Gunderman, R. Education in Professionalism: Improvisation. Acad Radiology. 2016;23(5):655-57.
- Misch DA. I Feel Witty, Oh So Witty. JAMA. 2016;315(4):345-346.
- Kaplan-Liss E, Lantz-Gefroh V, Bass E, Killebrew D, Ponzio N, Savi C, O’Connell C. Teaching Medical Students to Communicate With Empathy and Clarity Using Improvisation. Acad Med. 2018;93(3):440-43.
- Hoffmann-Longtin K, Rossing JP, Weinstein E. Twelve tips for using applied improvisation in medical education. Med Teacher. 2018;40(4)351-356. Gao L., Peranson J, Nyhof-Young J, Kapoor E, Rezmovitz J. The role of improv in health professional learnin