Reducing Burnout by Improving Interprofessional Communication: Insights from the Long-Term Evaluation of a Medical Improvisation Training Program

Burnout among healthcare professionals remains a pressing concern. Interprofessional communication–how healthcare professionals interact with each other–has emerged as a modifiable factor to reduce burnout, and medical improvisation training is a promising method to enhance communication. However, few interventions have evaluated long-term improvements in communication or explored the mechanisms linking interprofessional communication to burnout reduction. To fill this gap, we conducted a long-term evaluation of a medical improvisational training program. Clinical healthcare workers (N = 175) from a tertiary teaching hospital in the United States–who participated in a medical improv-based training designed to enhance interprofessional communication–completed baseline and long-term follow-up assessments. Results showed that individual communication skills improved significantly from baseline to follow-up (p <.001). Participants also reported a significant reduction in burnout (p =.02) at follow-up. Path analysis revealed that changes in both individual communication skills and group-level communication climate were positively associated with changes in professional fulfillment, which in turn predicted burnout reduction. These findings suggest that medical improvisation training can foster sustainable enhancement in interprofessional communication skills and buffer against burnout by enhancing healthcare workers’ sense of professional fulfillment. Our evaluation highlights the importance of targeting both individual and group-level communication processes to promote clinician wellbeing.