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.

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Stephanie Gfeller, MS, LACHA is the Director of Education and Leadership. Stephanie coordinates grant activities, manages the scholarship program, serves on the Center for Leadership design team, and assists with other special trainings/projects to support the priorities of association and foundation. Stephanie graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor and Master of Science. She loves working at LeadingAge Kansas due to the endless opportunities for her to watch people learn, grow and gain confidence in themselves as professionals. She has always been weirdly excited about nursing homes, interested in human aging and passionate helping those who work in long-term care grow and succeed so LeadingAge Kansas is a perfect fit. It allows Stephanie to use her knowledge, skills, and strengths to provide resources, training, and support for long-term care professionals so they can provide high quality services and support aging Kansans. When not helping others grow in the association, you can find her driving the mom shuttle for her two kids to 4-H, sports, school, theatre or whatever else they are in. She also enjoys baking, being outside, and reading. You can reach Stephanie directly at 785.670.8047.