Down To Clown

Gooo, no writing in August! Well, I am back on service (please refer to previous entries for a full description of what that entails!). Last time I was on service for a full month was April and I committed to writing 500 words per day while on service because otherwise I put it off for all of the other things in my life. That was a great experience for me. It clarified my thinking process and improved my writing significantly, if only incrementally on a large scale. I am going to work on some different things this go round. I may do some reading to help improve the experience for you, dearest reader!

A few quick updates on our activities. I started with a new group of Level 1 Intro to Improv for Healthcare Providers class. That is a real joy to be a part of and delivers me so much insight into the ideas discussed in here. I also did a workshop for the medical students on their first day of school. They write essays on the experience and again this year, they demonstrate very powerful testaments to practicing “Yes, and”. Last month was also the first time I did a workshop on the road. It was in Oklahoma City, technically Norman, at the Explore Healthcare Summit. That was a big deal for me personally to be paid to come share these ideas. It was an impressive event and I met some great people. The group that did the workshop was mostly physicians but the age range was the widest for any workshop I had ever done. When we started, I wondered if people in their 70’s and 80’s would be down to clown but in fact they embraced the activities. Two of the older participants even came up to myself and my co-presenter saying how much they enjoyed the activities following the workshop. They also had the ability to add wonderful insight to the activities and how they relate to the current healthcare environment. Yesterday was also the first time I was able to work with the OT students at UNMC. This was cool because there was an OT student in my original Level 1 Improv class. I had sent her an email asking how improv had helped her in her professional role as an Occupational Therapist. Her response was delightful to read, especially since it lined up with many of the ways that improv has benefited me personally and professionally. Later this month, I have a conference that will have a similar but not the same audience as the conference I did last April. More to come there. Alright, that is enough housekeeping, on to some thoughts for the day

One of the downfalls of last time I committed to daily writing, is that I wrote about whatever popped in my head that day. You can expect some of that again this month, but I hope to keep it pretty well focused on the topics for my next two faculty development workshops coming up in October. It is my hope that by delving deeper on the topics of Empathy and Adaptability that I can make those experiences the best they have been. I usually do empathy as a way to introduce the concepts of improv to a new audience. It is a great introduction to principles of improv, especially Yes, and…. I also feel confident that the material serves the goal of using humor to open the door to explore very serious ideas. During the workshop in Oklahoma I shared the following stories. When I had COVID and was in the process of recovery, my mom gave me advice on how best to treat it (I have probably treated over 100 patients with COVID btw), that could only be described as “misinformation”. I realized that she knows that I am a physician who treats patients in the hospital, but her reality is that she is my mom. Correcting the specifics of her COVID treatment protocol would not do anything other than cause division. Appreciating that she wants to be my mom and still show her care and concern for me did result in a positive exchange between the two of us. The next week when I was back at work, I had a patient whose birthday was approaching and our hospital’s COVID visitor policy was going to affect how his family celebrated his birthday. His father became very upset with our team for the hospital’s policy. Had I not just had that interaction with my mother, I likely would have sternly reminded him that the hospital doesn’t care what I think in regards to the visitor policy so yelling at me ain’t gonna do anything buddy! I did not do that, I reminded our team that this father just wants to be his son’s dad and is feeling a loss of control. The best we can do is let him know that we are trying to understand his reality. I also would not have had the response to my mom had I not been actively preparing for these improv workshops covering Empathy. After this workshop in Oklahoma, a participant came up to me and told me two similar stories. The first was how he hoped to communicate more productively with his own mother and another story about how recently his communication with another physician in front of a patient was totally comprehensive but left his patient more confused. Reading the essays the medical students completed following their Empathy workshop showed similar opportunities in their lives where using Yes, and… led to a sense of connection even if they didn’t agree with their conversation partner. I think practicing Yes, and… in any setting, be it the silliness of improv activities, on the phone with a loved one, or in the hospital/clinic is the exercise for our empathy muscles so that we can be empathetic even when it is difficult, which is when those muscles are often the most needed.

Also, the Omaha Comedy Fest is this weekend and both of my shows are tonight. Check it out!