Mock-Injury Workshop Connects Theatre, Healthcare

During the Winter 2021 semester, B.A. in Theatre Technical Director and Adjunct Faculty Member Alexandra “Calypso” Hernandez taught an interdisciplinary workshop for students in THEA 2500: Healthcare Theatre, offered through the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, that brought together elements of medicine, theatre and humanity. The workshop offered students the opportunity to learn the art of moulage – the use of makeup to create mock injuries such as bruises, scars, and other skin abrasions for use in the training of healthcare professionals.

“The moulage workshop is not only fun and interactive but it integrates arts and sciences helping the college accomplish its mission,” said Bill Adams, professor and program director for the music and theatre programs.

Moulage provides a realistic instructional environment for students studying to become standardized patients (SP) in healthcare simulations. Students in the workshop learned how to provide essential feedback to the healthcare student rather than needing to imagine the pathology being examined in the simulation. This innovative approach using applied theatre is foundational in current healthcare training methodologies. Student standardized patients develop empathy for the patients they portray, and healthcare students benefit from the analytical focus on critical thinking skills observable in simulations.

For more information about THEA 2500: Healthcare Theatre and other courses offered through the B.A. in Theatre program, click here.