ArticleMedical education online2021
The impact of a medical improv curriculum on wellbeing and professional development among pre-clinical medical students.
Article in Medical education online, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond the Written Reflection: A Systematic Review and Qualitative Synthesis of Creative Approaches to Reflective Learning Amongst Medical Students.Perspectives on medical education · 2023Pooled it
- Zoom Improv is accessible and enhances medical student empathy.BMC medical education · 2024Trial
- Theater-Based Program for Collective Healing Among Asian American Health Care Professionals.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Student perceptions of medical improv in Sweden: an assessment of acceptability, relevance, and psychological safety.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Communicating with Patients with Major Neurocognitive Disorder: An Improv Based Curriculum for Psychiatry Residents.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2025Article
- The use of applied improvisation at university: a mini-review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: Improvisation as Feedback.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2024Article
- The future of flourishing in veterinary medicine: a systems-informed positive psychology approach in veterinary education.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Review
- Using nominal group technique to determine skills that applied improvisation can teach health profession education learners.PEC innovation · 2023Article
- The Effects of Humor in Clinical Settings on Medical Trainees and the Implications for Medical Educators: A Scoping Review.Medical science educator · 2023Article
- Role of Medical Improvs in Facilitating Learning and Acquisition of Skills among Healthcare Professionals.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social MedicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medical students experience rising rates of burnout throughout their training. Efforts have been made to not only mitigate its negative effects, but also prevent its development. Medical improv takes the basic ideas of improvisational theatre and applies them to clinical situations. Given improv's focus on self-awareness and reflection, in addition to its spontaneous nature, we hypothesized it had the potential to serve as a creative outlet, a way to prevent and/or mitigate the negative effects of stress, burnout, and fatigue, and provide a learning environment to develop skills necessary to succeed as a physician. University of California (UC) San Diego School of Medicine developed a medical improv elective for pre-clinical students and assessed its effects on student development and wellbeing. Students enrolled in the elective between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 at UC San Diego School of Medicine were surveyed pre- and post- course completion using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Students noted significant improvement in domains related to proactivity in their professional career (3.15 to 4.00, p = 0.02), wellbeing (3.0 to 4.4, p < 0.001), engagement with their studies (3.85 to 4.52, p = 0.02), and communication (3.75 to 4.3, p = 0.04) after completion of the medical improv elective. We describe a pilot-study demonstrating the positive effects of improv on medical student wellbeing and professional development, laying the groundwork for both future study of improv on student wellness and its implementation in the pre-clinical curriculum.
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Registered trials
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