‘They didn’t do anything wrong! What will I talk about?’

Abstract

Simulation educators are often unsure of how to conduct a debriefing when learner performance meets or exceeds the expected standard and no significant errors have occurred. Similar to patient safety practices in clinical settings, simulation educators frequently focus on debriefing errors. Indeed, much debriefing training focuses on developing skills needed to conduct the “difficult conversations” that involve giving feedback on errors that occurred. Many simulation educators have not been taught an approach to debriefing positive performance. This manuscript provides such an approach. The approach applies the principles of Cognitive Task Analysis, a technique used in human factors research, to debriefing positive performance. The steps of knowledge elicitation, knowledge representation, and data analysis and synthesis can guide debriefers as they help learners discuss their positive performance, with the goal that the same positive practices will be repeated in future clinical practice.