Verbatim theatre in pediatric oncology: integration into residency education and continuing interprofessional development sessions

Hybrid (in-person and virtual) sessions, including those involving medical humanities, are increasingly ubiquitous in health professional education since the COVID-19 pandemic. Ed’s Story, a verbatim play written from the journal of an adolescent/young adult (AYA) osteosarcoma patient, has been utilized in medical education at Canadian institutions for over a decade. However, we have never integrated Ed’s Story into sessions for pediatric resident physicians (PRPs) or pediatric oncology healthcare professionals (HCPs). We explored how hybrid sessions using Ed’s Story, combining both passive viewing of a recording of the play followed by reader’s theatre (RT) of the script, impacted PRPs and HCPs working in the provincial pediatric oncology program at our tertiary children’s hospital. Hybrid sessions were feasible and enjoyable; participant empathy increased post-session; and the majority of participants preferred watching the recording over RT. Inductive thematic analysis of narrative feedback identified five themes: new or broadened understanding of interdisciplinary pediatric oncology care and patient/family illness experiences; recognition of AYA care needs; appreciation for nuances of advanced communication; acknowledgement of new skills gained; and session/logistic feedback. These results will inform future iterations of Ed’s Story to optimize content delivery and session structure.