Exploring the Discourse of Debriefing Interactions: Areas for Improvement

Debriefing has been widely used as part of simulation-based education (SBE) to promote reflective thinking and prepare students for real clinical practice. This study examined a real debriefing transcript to identify its structure and gain insight into communication strategies used by the participants. The sample included an extended debriefing session in which a debriefer and undergraduate students, who participated in a critical care nursing simulation, engaged in a self-reflection phase. Adopting discourse analysis approaches, the analysis revealed how this interaction unfolds. The analysis also unveiled an asymmetric relationship during the debriefing that positioned the debriefer in a position of power and interactional dominance, and placed students in a passive role. Interactional features such as the use of open-ended questions, silent pauses, and informative feedback were identified as effective communication strategies to support the interaction; however, to achieve efficient self-debriefing, debriefers in this setting are encouraged to balance the use of questions to avoid restraining students from engaging and producing extended turns. Moreover, debriefers need to establish a safe environment that optimizes students’ involvement in self-reflection. This study recommends the use of other debriefing techniques to minimize the dominance of the debriefer during the interaction.