Lisa’s research interests lie at the intersection of performance, digital humanities, and medical communication. Through these modalities, she explore the politics of cultural identity, race, and and medicalization. Towards this investigation, Lisa has developed socially engaged art interventions that aim to generate public dialogue around the personal impact of social and political issues relevant to local communities: economic challenges, language learning, agency in healthcare, and the daily experiences of immigrants. At the core of this interest is the question: What does it mean to create a safe space for dialogue? In recent years, Lisa has extended this question into the realm of medical education, where she explores the interplay of everyday objects clinical communication.
In her current postdoctoral research at Penn State College of Medicine, Lisa uses theater improvisation and oral storytelling to explore the role of ordinary objects in communication between the patient and healthcare provider. Building on communications research with standardized patients, this study considers everyday objects as an integral component of non-verbal clinical communication. For example, a door is a way to enter the room, but it also has implications for the patient, depending on how the clinician knocks on and opens the door before entering the room. The primary goal is to explore how medical students’ awareness of everyday objects in the clinical setting can affect communication between patient and provider.
Data for this small-scale qualitative research study was collected in spring and fall of 2023, through an arts-based intervention with 4th-year medical students enrolled in an elective course on medical improvisation at Penn State College of Medicine. The intervention staged a mock clinical encounter where emphasis was placed on role play interactions among the students and two physical objects: the exam room door and chairs. Additionally, students engaged in self-reflective narrative exercises about their relationship to specific exam room objects. Preliminary findings reveal students’ self-reflections on how they previously did not consider the impact of objects in clinical communication. Students also pointed out how use of the door and chair can affect power dynamics in the medical exam room. The outcomes of this research have future implications with patients, in that they generate the potential for a more equitable healthcare setting, and contribute to improving the clinical work environment.
References
Buse, C., Martin, D., & Nettleton, S. (2018). Conceptualising ‘Materialities of care’: Making visible mundane material culture in health and Social Care Contexts. Materialities of Care, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119499749.ch1
Gao, L., Peranson, J., Nyhof-Young, J., Kapoor, E., & Rezmovitz, J. (2018). The role of “improv” in health professional learning: A scoping review. Medical Teacher, 41(5), 561–568. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2018.1505033
Grossman, C. E., Lemay, M., Kang, L., Byland, E., Anderson, A. D., Nestler, J. E., & Santen, S. A. (2021). Improv to improve medical student communication. The Clinical Teacher, 18(3), 301–306. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13336
Koski K. & Ostherr K. (2022). Props in breaking bad news simulation. In: J. Nott and A. Harris (eds.) Making Sense of Medicine: Material Culture and the Reproduction of Medical Knowledge. Intellect.
Neel, N., Maury, J.-M., Heskett, K. M., Iglewicz, A., & Lander, L. (2021). The impact of a medical improv curriculum on wellbeing and professional development among pre-clinical medical students. Medical Education Online, 26(1), 1961565. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2021.1961565