"[It’s] All About Uplifting Everyone”: Medical Students’ Constructions of Power-Hierarchies in Virtual Medical Improvisation Sessions

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 1:45 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting Inequitable Systems in Health Professions Education (Table 11)

Abstract

Medical hierarchies are detrimental to medical student education, making it vital to consider alternative ways to support students in diffusing power dynamics. Improv has been linked to power-hierarchy disruption, and has been used to support a variety of interpersonal skills for medical students. However, little work has examined how medical improv can achieve similar results in a virtual environment. This study uses a secondary analysis of data collected for a larger randomized control trial to interrogate medical students’ discursive constructions of power-hierarchies. We use these discourses to provide recommendations on how virtual medical improv can best be leveraged to prepare medical students for successfully interrupting hierarchy during their future careers.

Authors

• Jacqueline Renee Kociubuk, University of Rhode Island

• Noreen Mansuri, University of California - Davis

• Amy B. Zelenski, University of Wisconsin - Madison