According to The Joint Commission (TJC), the most frequently cited root cause of sentinel events is ineffective communication or miscommunication (TJC, 2002, 2012). The need to improve communication among health care professionals is a high priority because of the serious consequences of poor communication for everyone involved, on both personal and corporate levels. Applied improvisational exercises (AIEs) comprise a strategy for enhancing interprofessional communication (IPC). This article asks: What are the challenges inherent in IPC and teambuilding in the health care setting, and how can AIE help bridge the communication gap?
AndersonL. W., & KrathwohlD. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York, NY: Longman.
GabaD. M. (2004). The future vision of simulation in health care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(Supp. 1), i2–i10.
6.
GaleB. D., Bissett-SiegelD. P., DavidsonS. J., & JuranD. C. (2011). Failure to notify reportable test results: Significance in medical malpractice. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 8(11), 776–779.
7.
GeeV., & GeeS. (2011). Business improv: Experiential learning exercises to train employees to handle every situation. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.
8.
GongY., ZhuM., LiJ., TurleyJ., & ZhangJ. (2006). Clinical communication ontology for medical errors. American Medical Informatics Association Symposium.
9.
HaynesA. B., WeiserT. G., BerryW. R., LipsitzS. R., Abdel-HadiS., BreizatJ., … GawandeA. A. (2009). A surgical safety checklist to reduce morbidity and mortality in a global population. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(5), 491–499.
10.
HelmreichR. L., MerrittA. C., & WilhelmJ. A. (1999). The evolution of Crew Resource Management training in commercial aviation. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 9(1), 19–32.
11.
Institute of Medicine. (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
12.
JohnstoneK. (1994). Impro: Improvisation and the theatre. London, United Kingdom: Methuen Drama.
13.
KahnemanD. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
14.
KolbeM., WeissM., GroteG., KnauthA., DambachM., SpahnD. R., & GrandeB. (2013). TeamGAINS: A tool for structured debriefings for simulation-based team trainings. British Medical Journal of Quality and Safety, 22(7), 541–553.
15.
KoppettK. (2013). Training to imagine. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
LoftS., SandersonP., NealA., & MooijM. (2007). Modeling and predicting mental workload in en route air traffic control: Critical review and broader implications. Human Factors, 49(3), 376–399.
18.
MarshallS., HarrisonJ., & FlanaganB. (2009). The teaching of a structured tool improves the clarity and content of interprofessional clinical communication. Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 18(2), 137–140.
19.
MaxwellJ. C. (2010). Everyone communicates, few connect. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
20.
MischelW., & ShodaY. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102(2), 246–268.
21.
SavoldelliG. N., NaikV. N., HamstraS. J., & MorganP. J. (2005). Barriers to use of simulation-based education. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, 52(9), 944–950.
22.
SpolinV. (1983). Improvisation for the theater. Chicago, IL: Northwestern University Press.
WeaverS. J., RosenM. A., Diaz GranadosD., LazzaraE. H., LyonsR., SalasE., … KingH. B. (2010). Does teamwork improve performance in the operating room? A multilevel evaluation. Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Safety, 36(3), 133–142.
