Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The complexity of resilience and the role of medical improv

Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP
Conditions
November 21, 2023
Share
Tweet
Share

High incidences of burnout, quiet quitting, suicide, workplace violence, excessive and relentless stress, and chronic staffing shortages reveal a huge need for resilience among health care workers. Resilience is a complex competency involving flexibility of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in response to adversity. Adversity, especially when it comes to working in health care, involves individuals and the cultures they work in. We must keep the culture in mind because, as human beings, health care workers are part of complex adaptive systems. The relational properties of complex adaptive systems, such as adaptability, flexibility, nonlinearity, and self-organization, are key to effective problem-solving. Therefore, health care workers need to be more resilient to face these issues, but they also need to be empowered to impact the issues they face.

Individuals need skills associated with healthy interprofessional and therapeutic boundaries and communication that enable them to have difficult conversations, respect a wide range of diversity, manage conflict, set limits, and collaborate effectively. They also need to work in cultures where they are respected, and such efforts are supported. Respect includes having the necessary resources to provide safe, compassionate care consistently. This added component brings financing health care into the mix.

All of this paints a complex and urgent picture of a problem that needs to be addressed. But how can we address it? Doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals can take self-care steps to become more resilient, but that isn’t enough. They also need to become positive change agents for their teams and organizations, and to be effective in that, they need to be stronger collectively. This interrelationship of individual, team, and organizational behaviors is exemplified in a recent KevinMD post called “Why emotional intelligence is critical for safe nurse staffing.”

Professionals need opportunities to develop skills associated with emotional intelligence and communication, as well as build relationships that promote positive contributions to teamwork and culture. From a complex adaptive systems’ perspective, efforts to build soft skills and interprofessional relationships will create the conditions from which solutions can emerge.

Enter medical improv.

Medical improv activities, when facilitated properly, can be used to promote resilience in several ways.

They are based on a “YES AND” philosophy that promotes emotional intelligence and communication skills. Remarkably, different people grow in various ways at the same moment. In other words, one person practices listening while another practices assertiveness and/or confidence, empathy, perspective-taking, and more.

Participants are engaged and have fun. Even a few minutes of play can help to relieve stress.

Participants are engaged and having fun together, building relationships that can shift away from bullying and blaming to forgiving, ownership, and learning.

While this may seem oversimplified for a short post, these conditions nurture professional growth in ways that can positively impact the culture and critical outcomes. As such, individuals become more resilient, and systems become healthier. Not overnight, but over time.

Beth Boynton is a nurse consultant and author specializing in research, training, and writing about emotional intelligence, communication, teamwork, and complexity leadership. She’s a pioneer in developing medical improv as a teaching modality for health care professionals and the founder, Boynton Improv Education. Find out more about upcoming open events, videos, and articles related to medical improv. She can also be reached on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Prev

A scientific approach to malpractice defense

November 21, 2023 Kevin 0
…
Next

Improving health care access for autism and disabilities

November 21, 2023 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Psychiatry

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A scientific approach to malpractice defense
Next Post >
Improving health care access for autism and disabilities

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP

  • Transform your health care team with these 5-minute communication exercises

    Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP
  • A simple, quick activity to build community within your health care team

    Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP
  • Healthy hierarchy for patient safety, experience, and staff wellbeing

    Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP

Related Posts

  • The role of income in medical school acceptance

    Carter Do
  • Digital advances in the medical aid in dying movement

    Jennifer Lynn
  • COVID-19, medical education, and the role of medical students around the world

    Clarissa C. Ren, Sara K. Hurley, Matthew A. Crane, Ayumi S. Tomishige, and Masato Fumoto
  • Qualifying conditions for medical marijuana

    Patricia Frye
  • The role of medical education in perpetuating health care disparities

    Anonymous
  • How the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for social media training in medical education 

    Oscar Chen, Sera Choi, and Clara Seong

More in Conditions

  • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

    Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD
  • Venous leak syndrome: a silent challenge faced by all men

    Elliot Justin, MD
  • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

    Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD
  • Reimagining diabetes care with nutrition, not prescriptions

    William Hsu, MD
  • A speech pathologist’s key to better, safer patient care

    Adena Dacy, CCC-SLP
  • How collaboration saved my life from a rare disease doctors couldn’t diagnose

    Tami Burdick
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies

      Martha Rosenberg | Policy
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • Precision and personalization: Charting the future of cancer care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Expert Q&A: Dr. Jared Pelo, ambient clinical pioneer, explains how Dragon Copilot helps clinicians deliver better care

      Jared Pelo, MD & Microsoft & Nuance Communications | Sponsored
    • The lab behind the lens: Equity begins with diagnosis

      Michael Misialek, MD | Policy
    • Venous leak syndrome: a silent challenge faced by all men

      Elliot Justin, MD | Conditions
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies

      Martha Rosenberg | Policy
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • Precision and personalization: Charting the future of cancer care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Expert Q&A: Dr. Jared Pelo, ambient clinical pioneer, explains how Dragon Copilot helps clinicians deliver better care

      Jared Pelo, MD & Microsoft & Nuance Communications | Sponsored
    • The lab behind the lens: Equity begins with diagnosis

      Michael Misialek, MD | Policy
    • Venous leak syndrome: a silent challenge faced by all men

      Elliot Justin, MD | Conditions
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...