The Importance of Debriefing in Clinical Simulations

BackgroundThis education-focused research project evaluated the benefit of a structured debriefing session on students' learning after the students completed three pediatric-based clinical simulations.MethodEleven students participated in this study, in which their performance was videotaped during each simulation. They received a verbal debriefing at the conclusion of each clinical simulation and then received a structured debriefing session involving a review of the videotape during a qualitative focus group interview.Results and ConclusionsDescriptive findings from the discussion of the debriefing session suggest that students have a strong need for debriefing immediately following the conclusion of each simulation to help them decompress and integrate the experience into their knowledge base.