Communication Center Journal - Vol. 7 - No. 1 - 2021 - Medical Improvisation Communication Training Workshop

Oct 15, 2026

Medical improvisation is explored as a promising approach to strengthen healthcare communication by enhancing empathy, active listening, and adaptive interaction. The study applies the Alda Medical Experience (AME) communication training workshop to healthcare workers and examines immediate outcomes. Background links stress, burnout, and patient-safety risks to suboptimal interprofessional communication, where hierarchy can mute “speak up” voices and hinder “hearing down” concerns. Interprofessional “backstage” interactions are treated as central to teamwork and collaboration.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Interprofessional communication and burnout

Medical improvisation and the AME workshop

Purpose and study rationale

Communication Center Journal 95 Vol. 7, No. 1, 2021 Medical improvisation improves communication skills among healthcare professionals Heidi Preis, Elizabeth Bojsza, Laura Lindenfeld, Susmita Pati Stony Brook University Effective communication is essential to sustain a thriving healthcare workforce and ensure patient health and safety (Howell et al. , 2020; Kreitzer & Klatt, 2017) . The importance of creating environments where members of the healthcare team can voice concerns about patient quality and safety and their own wellbeing is well documented (Ford et al. , 2021) ; yet, approaches to building healthcare workers’communication skills are understudied and underutilized (Omura et al. , 2017) . Emerging research on communication training and anecdotal reports indicate that medical improvisation (improv) is a promising strategy to improve communication skills by increasing empathy, intent listening, and adjusting oneself to accommodate to the communication needs and values of the others (Fu, 2019; Mehta et al. , 2020; Watson & Fu, 2016) . The current study presents the application of a medical improv program, the Alda Medical Experience (AME) communication training workshop, among healthcare workers and the immediate outcomes of such training. Healthcare interprofessional communication Healthcare workers are one of the largest labor sectors in the U.S. and one that is most plagued by stress, diminished well-being, and burnout (Denning et al. , 2021; Shanafelt et al. , 2019) . Burnout is generally defined as a loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, a low sense of accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, and high depersonalization (Groves, 2018; Maslach & Jackson Susan, 1981) . Literature suggests there is arising incidence of stress and burnout among physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals (Afonso et al. , 2021; Aiken et al. , 2002; Benson et al. , 2016; Dyrbye & Shanafelt, 2016; Dyrbye et al. , 2017) that is partially attributable to poor interprofessional communication (Vermeir et al. , 2018) . Burnout is recognized as not only an interpersonal experience but as one that is caused, shaped, and lived through communication (Tracy, 2010) . Interprofessional communication includes communication between different medical teams (e.g. , surgeonanesthesiologist, emergency department physician-cardiologist), different types of healthcare professionals (e.g. , nurse-physician, physician-resident), and between healthcare professionals within the same discipline (Real & Buckner, 2014) . Suboptimal interprofessional communication among healthcare workers results in decreased well-being, and also has major adverse downstream impacts on organizational culture and patient safety. For example, miscommunication when handing off a patient from one medical team to another can lead to adverse events (Mitchell et al. , 2012) . Moreover, existing hierarchies mute voices of Communication Center Journal 96 Vol. 7, No. 1, 2021 healthcare professionals, especially those who are lower in the hierarchy (i.e. , nurses, trainees) making it difficult for some to‘speak up’(Kim et al. , 2020; Krenz & Burtscher, 2020 ; Peadon et al. , 2020) and making it difficult for others to‘hear down’those concerns (Peadonet al. , 2020)– both contribute to an unsuitable safety climate and hostile or toxic work environments. The AME medical improv training which was developed at the Alda Center for Communicating Science© is specifically geared towards interprofessional communication among healthcare workers. Medical improv Communication centers comprised of diverse interdisciplinary teams have the opportunity to refine, rigorously evaluate, and disseminate communication training. The Alda Center for Communicating Science© is a provost-level cross-disciplinary center originally founded in 2009 within Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism. All of the Center’s workshops leverage the power of impr

FAQs

Why is communication training important for healthcare workers?

Effective communication sustains a healthy workforce and supports patient health and safety. Poor interprofessional communication contributes to decreased well-being, harmful organizational culture, and patient-safety risks.

What problem does the study connect to burnout in healthcare?

Burnout relates to loss of enthusiasm, cynicism, low accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. The literature links stress and burnout partly to poor interprofessional communication shaped and lived through communication dynamics and hierarchy.

How does the AME medical improvisation workshop aim to improve communication?

The AME training uses improvisational theater exercises to build listening, spontaneity, empathy, and intent listening. It targets interprofessional communication and “backstage” teamwork interactions without patients, balancing experiential engagement with analytic reflection.

Oct 15, 2026

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