GERIATRIC EM REFLECTION
Off Script: What Improv Taught Me About Practicing Emergency Medicine
SAEM PULSE | JULY-AUGUST 2025
By Surriya Colleen Ahmad, MD, on behalf of the SAEM Academy for Geriatric Emergency Medicine
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“Group mind.” In improvisational comedy, we use this phrase to describe a state of harmony among performers—a collective flow in which everyone is listening, responding, and building something together. It’s not about one person being funny or standing out; it’s about co-creating a moment, often from nothing, through trust and presence. Over the years, I’ve realized that group mind isn’t just for the stage. It’s the same force at work in a trauma bay—when an emergency medicine team instinctively moves together, anticipating each other’s
actions, aligned toward a single goal: saving a life. For me, improvisational comedy and emergency medicine are deeply intertwined. The skills I learned through improv have shaped how I practice medicine—and how I live my life. I first discovered improv in 2011 during my senior year at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. I was on the pre-med track, buried in science coursework, when I took a chance on an improv class with Automatic Improv in Midtown. It felt rebellious. It felt freeing. And it opened up a whole new part of myself. I became more outgoing,
a better communicator, and more comfortable with uncertainty—skills that would prove invaluable later in medicine. I even saw my MyersBriggs personality type shift over time. When I returned to my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, for medical school, I worried that I’d have to put all of that aside. But I came to understand that building a life in medicine didn’t mean giving up everything else. It meant finding ways to integrate my passions. I joined a local short-form team, Improv Anonymous, and performed regularly—often on Wednesday