164 Decoding the ‘Black Box’ of Debriefing with Michaela Kolbe


Healthcare debriefings have been primarily informed by theories and expert opinions but in this episode Ben explores with Michaela Kolbe how her team took on the remarkable endeavour to code over 18,000 debriefing micro-events from 50 simulation debriefings to uncover the quantitative mysteries inside ‘the black box of debriefing’. 

Join us as we explore the evolving evidence on what ‘Advocacy and Inquiry’ actually leads to in a debrief, as well as the surprising impact of praise, paraphrasing and guess what I’m thinking questions. 

The paper 

Kolbe M, Grande B, Lehmann-Willenbrock N, et al 

Helping healthcare teams to debrief effectively: associations of debriefers’ actions and participants’ reflections during team debriefings 

BMJ Quality & Safety Published Online First: 28 July 2022. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2021-014393