Exploring How the Terms "Black" and "African American" May Shape Health Communication Research.

Several distinct terms are used to identify descendants of the African diaspora (DADs) as fellow members of a racialized population. However, "Black" and "African American" are the two labels most commonly used. Given the recent calls for examining institutionalized racism in the United States, health scholars must contemplate the problems that may arise when these two terms are used interchangeably, namely the extent to which mislabeling may reify already significant health disparities.

Fostering Interdisciplinary Boundary Spanning in Health Communication: A Call for a Paradigm Shift.

Scholarship in the field of health communication is broad, with interdisciplinary contributions from researchers trained in a variety of fields including communication, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, public health, and social work. In this paper, we explore the role of "health communication boundary spanners" (HCBS), individuals whose scholarly work and academic appointment reflect dual citizenship in the communication discipline the health professions or public health. Using a process of critical reflective inquiry, we elucidate opportunities and challenges associated with HCBS across the spectrum of health communication in order to provide guidance for individuals pursuing boundary spanning roles and those who supervise and mentor them.

The Conscientious Use of Images Illustrating Diversity in Medical Education Marketing.

An institution's marketing materials are an important part of presenting its culture. In 2018, communication professionals in the Office of Faculty Affairs, Professional Development, and Diversity at the Indiana University School of Medicine recognized after reviewing the literature that using images illustrating diversity in marketing materials may have unintended negative consequences and could potentially reflect poorly on the institution. Representations of diversity that are discordant with the actual demographics of an institution can create distrust among faculty, students, and staff who discover an institution is not as diverse or supportive of diversity as their marketing materials suggest.

Development of an empathy and clarity rating scale to measure the effect of medical improv on end-of-first-year OCSE performance: a pilot study.

Patients want empathetic physicians who listen and understand. How do you teach and measure empathy? Medical educators, including those inspired by Alan Alda, have turned to theater to teach skills in empathetic communication. Improvisation-informedcurriculum (medical improv) draws upon foundational actors training: deep listening, emotional understanding, connections, authenticity.

Active Learning on Center Stage: Theater as a Tool for Medical Education.

Introduction: Knowledge and skill development related to communication must incorporate both affective and behavioral components, which are often difficult to deliver in a learning activity. Using theater techniques and principles can provide medical educators with tools to teach communication concepts.

Methods: This 75-minute faculty development workshop presents a variety of techniques from theater and adapts them for use in medical education.

Bridging the gap for future clinician-educators.

Background: In contrast to the training required in the UK, opportunities for medical education training in the USA are limited. Resident-as-teacher programmes are typically insufficient to prepare trainees to be successful clinician-educators, but few pursue formal education degrees. We sought to assess the need for, and feasibility of, a training pathway for subspecialty fellows in a large Department of Medicine that would prepare our trainees to become effective educators.

Twelve tips for using applied improvisation in medical education.

Future physicians will practice medicine in a more complex environment than ever, where skills of interpersonal communication, collaboration and adaptability to change are critical. Applied improvisation (or AI) is an instructional strategy which adapts the concepts of improvisational theater to teach these types of complex skills in other contexts. Unique to AI is its very active teaching approach, adapting theater games to help learners meet curricular objectives.

A competency-based approach to recruiting, developing, and giving feedback to department chairs.

Academic health centers (AHCs) are under unprecedented pressure, making strong leadership during these challenging times critical. Department chairs have tremendous influence in their AHCs, yet data indicate that--despite outstanding academic credentials--they are often underprepared to take on these important leadership roles. The authors sought to improve the approach to recruiting, developing, and giving feedback to department chairs at their institution, the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), by reorganizing these processes around six key leadership competencies: leadership and team development, performance and talent management, vision and strategic planning, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and commitment to the tripartite mission.