Alda Healthcare Experience
The Alda Healthcare Experience (AHE) is an immersive and multidisciplinary approach to healthcare team communication training. Through it, professionals across the continuum of care experiment with communication strategies that are backed by social science research and informed by applied improvisation to collaborate in more meaningful ways.
Currently funded by a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the AHE is a cross-campus interdisciplinary collaboration between the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and Stony Brook Medicine. Since 2017, over 1200 participants have experienced the program, and rigorous evaluation has yielded prolific scholarship, media engagements, and networking.
To learn more please contact Elizabeth Bojsza (elizabeth.bojsza@stonybrook.edu).
Selected AHE Scholarship:
Hathaway JR, Tarini BA, Banerjee S, Smolkin CO, Koos JA, Pati S. Healthcare team communication training in the United States: A scoping review. Health Communication. 2022 Feb 16:1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2036439.
Pati S, Cleek EN, Bojsza E, Miller PP. Strategies to Meet the Urgent Need for Connection in Health Care. Acad Med. 2022 Mar 1;97(3):321-322. http://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000004548
Pati S, Lindenfeld L, Gropack S, Paz H. Meeting the need for human connection in our health care workforce. Acad Med, 2024 Apr 3;99(4):347-348. Published online ahead of print Dec. 28, 2023. http://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000005624
Preis H, Bojsza E, Lindenfeld L, Gan TJ, Pati S. Process evaluation of a medical improvisation program for healthcare communication training. Journal of Communication in Healthcare. 2022 Dec;15(4):260-266. http://doi.org/10.1080/17538068.2021.2012750 Epub 2021 Dec 13. PMID: 36911906.
Preis H, Bojsza E, Lindenfeld L, Pati S. Medical improvisation improves communication skills among healthcare professionals. .Communication Center Journal 2021, 7(1): 95-107. http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ccj/article/view/2192.
Preis H, Dobias M, Cohen K, Bojsza E, Whitney C, Pati S. A mixed-methods program evaluation of the Alda Healthcare Experience- a program to improve healthcare team communication. BMC Med Educ. 2022 Dec 28;22(1):897. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03972-w PMID: 36578023.
Whitney C, Bojsza E, Besch S, Preis H, Zheng S, Pati S. “ADAPTing to participant distress: A protocol for applied improvisation in healthcare” Medical Education Dec 20 2024. http://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15602
Relevant AHE Research:
Fu B. Common ground: Frameworks for teaching improvisational ability in medical education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. 2019;31(3):342-355. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2018.1537880
Gao L, Peranson J, Nyhof-Young J, Kapoor E, Rezmovitz J. The role of “improv” in health professional learning: a scoping review. Medical Teacher. 2019;41(5):561-568. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1505033
Mehta A, Fu B, Chou E, Mitchell S, Fessell D. Improv: Transforming physicians and medicine. Medical Science Educator. 2021;31(1):263-266 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01174-x
Muldoon, K. M. (2022). IMPROVing communication about diversity, equity, and inclusion in health professions education. The Anatomical Record, 305(4), 1000-1018. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24864
Rux S. Utilizing improvisation as a strategy to promote interprofessional collaboration
within healthcare teams. Clinical Nurse Specialist. 2020;34(5):234-236. https://doi.org/10.1097/NUR.0000000000000541
Watson K, Fu B. Medical improv: A novel approach to teaching communication and professionalism
skills. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2016;165:591-592. https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2239