The art and science of debriefing in simulation: Ideal and practice

Describing what simulation centre leaders see as the ideal debriefing for different simulator courses (medical vs. crisis resource management (CRM)-oriented). Describing the practice of debriefing based on interactions between instructors and training participants.

Study 1 - Electronic questionnaire on the relevance of different roles of the medical teacher for debriefing (facilitator, role model, information provider, assessor, planner, resource developer) sent to simulation centre leaders. Study 2 - Observation study using a paper-and-pencil tool to code interactions during debriefings in simulation courses for CRM for content (medical vs. CRM-oriented) and type (question vs. utterance).

Study 1 - The different roles were seen as equally important for both course types with the exception of 'information provider' which was seen as more relevant for medical courses. Study 2 - There were different interaction patterns during debriefings: line - involving mostly the instructor and one course participant, triangle - instructor and two participants, fan - instructor and all participants in a dyadic form and net - all participants and the instructor with cross references.

What simulation centre heads think is important for the role mix of simulation instructors is (at least partly) not reflected in debriefing practice.