STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some doctors do not have the best bedside manner, and that can stress out patients. Minnesota's Mayo Clinic includes improv comedy classes as part of the training it gives to medical residents. The hope is that improv will help them improve. Reporter Catharine Richert with Minnesota Public Radio went to class.
CATHARINE RICHERT, BYLINE: Typically, medical residents at Mayo Clinic visit patients and learn new skills. But during training this day, they're pretending to toss around an imaginary ball. Here's improv comedy coach Tane Danger.
TANE DANGER: It could be any kind of ball you want. It could be, like, a big, giant beach ball or a little ping pong ball. Whatever you like.
RICHERT: And these newly minted doctors are supposed to do something even goofier.
DANGER: You must fail to catch it. You cannot catch the ball. And now I got a ball and I'm going to throw it. I'm making eye contact with you. You're not going to catch this ball. OK, here we go.
RICHERT: The whole point of this improv game called Loser Ball is to have fun failing. Danger has been teaching this workshop to medical residents here for years, and it uses improv theater techniques to help young doctors be comfortable using humor, curiosity and empathy in their interactions with patients and each other. Danger says participants are skeptical at first.
DANGER: By the end of a workshop, students will say, like, oh, my gosh, this really was, like, getting me to think about, like, how do I connect with another person? How do I, like, practice empathy, which is obviously a thing that we want health care professionals to do?
RICHERT: Dr. Chris Boswell oversees the doctors doing the improv training today. He says the skills help residents think on their feet in evolving situations.
CHRIS BOSWELL: You never know what your colleague is going to say next necessarily, so we always want to be able to adapt.
DANGER: Keep mirroring. Always keep mirroring.
(LAUGHTER)
RICHERT: After a few more rounds of tossing the imaginary ball, residents pair off. Danger leads them through more exercises, like an activity where they mirror each other's movements. And then onto the yes-and game - an improv classic. Danger explains.
DANGER: You are going to start every single sentence with yes, and with each other. Yes, and with each other. And I'm going to give you a great topic, which is food. Everybody likes food to some degree.
RICHERT: First-year resident, Dr. Manvir Sandhu, kicks it off.
MANVIR SANDHU: I think I could eat sushi literally every day for every meal.
RICHERT: Her partner, Dr. Tea Pere, responds.
TEA PERE: Yes, and, oh, my God, I could also be always down for, like, a little kimchi on the sides and a little hot pot, too.
SANDHU: Yes. And the probiotic effects of that are amazing.
PERE: Yes. And you can't even stop me from getting dessert afterwards at, like, a Korean place, getting a little ice cream. Ooh.
RICHERT: They go back and forth like this for a few more minutes, and after they're done, Pere says she sees a connection to her work with patients.
PERE: When patients are maybe worried about a medication or a diagnosis or some sort of uncertainty, opening the conversation with, yes, I understand your concerns. Tell me more about them. And then leading with, and, you know, I hope you trust me. I'm your physician, and this is what I think would be best for your health care. I think it was really translatable.
RICHERT: Sandhu agrees. She says the workshop taught her to pay closer attention to her patient's body language.
SANDHU: When you're in the room with the patient and it's just them, and they're sharing these really difficult things with you, thinking about body language, reading their body language, like, anticipating the way that what you're communicating with the way you're sitting and the yes-and and the - making sure that you're not dismissive.
RICHERT: And it's a skill, she says, that can't be learned from a textbook.
For NPR News, I'm Catharine Richert in Kasson, Minnesota.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.