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Articles
Hoffman A, et al. “Improving medical student communication skills through improvisational theatre.” Med Educ. 2008;42:537–538.
Boesen K, et al. "Improvisational exercises to improve pharmacy students' professional communication skills." Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;73: Article 35.
Shochet R, et al. 'Thinking on my feet': An improvisation course to enhance students' confidence and responsiveness in the medical interview. Educ Prim Care. 2013: 24(2):119-24.
Stokes, TA, et al. “Teaching Antenatal Counseling Skills to Neonatal Providers,” Semin Perinatol. 2014 Feb:38(1):47-51.
Watson K, Fu B. "Medical Improv: A Novel Approach to Teaching Communication and Professionalism Skills." Ann Intern Med. 2016;165:591-592.
Gunderman, R. Education in Professionalism: Improvisation. Acad Radiology. 2016;23(5):655-57.
Lewis AL. How the principles of improvisational theater can set your educational potential free! Acad Psych. 2016 Dec;40:953–5.
Misch DA. "I Feel Witty, Oh So Witty." JAMA.2016;315(4):345-346.
Sawyer T, Fu B, Gray M, Umoren R. "Medical Improvisation Training to Enhance the Antenatal Counseling Skills of Neonatologists and Neonatal Fellows: A Pilot Study," J Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Med. 2017 Aug;30(15):1865-1869.
Chan C, Watts B. Funny bones: Development of physician trainee communication skills using improvisational theater techniques. J Gen Int Med. 2017 Apr;32:S678.
Kaplan-Liss E, et al. 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 Teach. 2018;40(4)351-356.
Gao L., Peranson J, Nyhof-Young J, Kapoor E, Rezmovitz J. The role of improv in health professional learning: a scoping review. Med Teach. 2018. Published online. DOI:10.1080/0142159X.2018.1505033.
Books
APPLIED IMPROV
Koppett, Kat. Training to Imagine. Practical and useful, with extensive and well-catalogued collection of exercises.
Leonard, Kelly and Yorton, Tom. Yes, And. A perspective on the use of improv in business and corporate training from the folks at Second City.
IMPROV THEORY & PRACTICE
Madson, Patricia Ryan. Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up. A beautiful description of core improv maxims and their real-life applications. Elegant and easy to read. Written by a sage of improv and life in general.
Spolin, Viola. Improvisation in Theatre. The original book of improv theatre. Extensive collection of exercises and principles, with thoughtful discussion about underlying philosophy.
Halpern, Charna, et al. Truth in Comedy. Fundamental concepts of improv theatre. Clearly written, easy to read, captures the improv essence.
Johnstone, Keith. Impro: Improvisation for the Theatre. Profound insights about status behaviors, and relevant exercises.
Fey, Tina. "The Rules of Improvisation That Will Change Your Life and Reduce Belly Fat" from Bossypants. Embedded into this great book is an amusing and spot-on summary of core improv principles.
Libera, Anne. The Second City Almanac of Improvisation. History of improv at Second City Theatre, with helpful insights into core improv principles, and entertaining anecdotes. You'll recognize many of these people.
Jagodowski, TJ, et al. Improvisation at the Speed of Life. Two improv pros share their insights about improv and the principles that work best for them. Clear and to the point. PG-13.
Videos
RELATED TOPICS
Matt Smith, “The ‘Failure Bow" – The failure bow teaches us to embrace and celebrate failure. I learned it from Matt himself - he's a master teacher, performer, and mentor.