Coaching From the Sidelines: Examining the Impact of Teledebriefing in Simulation-Based Training

Area of Science:

• Medical Simulation
• Healthcare Education Technology

Background:

• Many institutions lack sufficient qualified instructors for post-simulation debriefing.
• Teledebriefing, an off-site remote facilitation method, is being explored as a solution.
• Evidence on teledebriefing's effectiveness compared to traditional methods is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of teledebriefing.
• To compare teledebriefing with on-site debriefing in emergency medicine residency training.

Main Methods:

• Emergency medicine residents were randomized into teledebriefing or on-site debriefing groups.
• The study involved 11 simulation training sessions over 9 months.
• Resident perception of debriefing effectiveness was measured using the Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare-Student Version.

Main Results:

• A total of 44 debriefings and 246 assessments were completed.
• On-site debriefing was rated significantly more effective (6.64) than teledebriefing (6.08).
• Both methods were consistently rated as effective by residents.

Conclusions:

• Teledebriefing is a consistently effective instructional method, despite lower ratings than in-person debriefing.
• It presents a potential alternative for simulation programs facing faculty shortages.
• Further research is needed to compare teledebriefing with other debriefing alternatives.