At IUP, we prepare you for the creative ways theater is emerging as a tool in the healthcare industry and in human services.
Initiative in Embodied Simulation and Applied Theater
In our Simulated Patient and Applied Theater Ensemble, you can get experience serving as a simulated patient for nursing students or perhaps work with a community-based improvisational performance that addresses specific social needs.
Participating in SP/ATE expands the ways students in the Theatre, Dance, and Performance Department can market their expertise, while allowing nursing students to practice responding to people in various scenarios.
Effective, caring communication with patients and their circle of relationships requires training that combines profound technical knowledge of healthcare with powerful inter-personal communication learned through practice.
Our current initiative in applied theater addresses the growing need in healthcare for diversity-and-cultural-sensitivity training.
Currently We Provide
- Nursing and Allied Health Department simulations
- Food and Nutrition Department simulations
- Forum simulations in psychology
- Interdisciplinary simulations
- Simulations to advance inter-professional behavior
- A three-credit course in empathetic communication (Performance of Caring)
- Trauma and crisis response large-scale simulations
“There is a change in myself that I have realized from the beginning of the semester until now. There is growth in my communication, body language, empathy, and mindfulness skills. My goal is take this information I have learned and practiced from this class and continue to use them throughout my career and life in general. These skills will help me be a better nurse that is attentive, understanding, empathetic, and kind.”
Kianna Swanson, senior nursing major, Performance of Caring, fall 2016