Is your team regularly taking time to debrief and learn from their performance? Debriefs are short team meetings to review happenings. They offer the opportunity for continued learning and improvement by reviewing performance. In the busy world of healthcare, it’s hard to do, but worth it. TeamSTEPPS® recommends using debriefs at shift change, upon critical events, or as needed for learning. The debrief shouldn’t be lengthy or overly formal. It should include a recap of the situation, any relevant background and team discussion to analyze performance. The discussion could include some of the questions below.
- What went well?
- What could have gone better?
- Was communication clear?
- Was help offered or solicited when needed?
- Did team members understand their roles?
- Was the workload distribution reasonable and effective?
- What additional follow-up is needed?
The brief also provides a great opportunity to give praise to team members. To ensure debriefs are focused and meaningful, develop and use a debrief checklist. The checklist could include some of the questions above.
TeamSTEPPS® promotes the use of the briefs, huddles and debriefs together for maximum impact. When used together, they give the team tools to plan, problem-solve and improve. It may be helpful to implement the tools one at a time starting with the brief. Once the team is comfortable, add the huddle and finally the debrief.
