Michelle Herring and Dr. Shelly Reed DNP, APRN, College of Nursing
Introduction
Simulation has become and integral part of the nursing students curriculum (Reed, 2012, Neill & Wotton. 2011). Debriefing is an important part of the simulation experience where processing and further learning is achieved (Reed, 2012). Debriefing periods may be limited (Dreifurest & Decker, 2012), thus it is wise to use the available time efficiently and efficaciously. The Debriefing Experience Scale (DES) debriefing tool is a method of evaluating the debriefing period (Reed, 2012). Many instructors are taught how to teach and instruct, but may still be developing their debriefing skills. This project will help the teacher compare his or her teaching time and the perceived evaluation of the debriefing. This project will help to identify the most useful teaching versus talking time by the instructor. This information will lead to an increase in efficient teaching methods and tools in the debriefing period.
Methodology
The quantitative study involved recording talking times of the debriefing session facilitator and evaluating the student experience during debriefing with a tool, the Debriefing Experience Scale (DES). The population was third, fourth and fifth semester nursing students at Brigham Young University (N=180) who participated in simulation labs that are already part of their curriculum. Informed consent was obtained. During debriefing, talking times of the facilitator(s) and students were recorded, with facilitator talking times divided into “talking” and “teaching”. Student talking times were also recorded to determine overall talking time and percentages. Following the debriefing, student participants were asked to complete a tool, DES. Data obtained will be analyzed to see if there is any correlation between facilitator teaching and talking times and the student experience during debriefing as identified by analysis of the data obtained from completed tools.
Results
At this time the data has only been gathered. Analyzing will take place during the winter semester by Shelly Reed, Debra Wing, Michelle Herring and 3 additional research assistants. The IRB approval for this project took longer than anticipated and by the time approval was granted all simulations for Winter 2013 were completed. The data was gathered from simulations that took place during Fall 2013, in the months of October and November.
Discussion
The pilot research on this subject suggests that in theory the students should do most of the talking, but in practice this is not happening. Research found that facilitators are doing most of the talking (Dieckmann, Friss, Lippert & Ostergard, (2009). In a study done by Maria Overstreet (2011) the study found that the common ratio of student to facilitator speaking was 1:6. In a smaller and more cohesive group of students and facilitator the ratio was 1:1. Another common practice is to give students ample time to reflect. In Overstreet’s study this practice did not actually lead to reflective answers.
Conclusion
With the completion of this study we hope to find out what is the ideal amount of time spent teaching and talking during debriefing in order to add more concrete principals of simulation debriefing. Michelle Herring did present the pilot research on this topic at two different venues: The Human Patient Simulation Network International Conference San Francisco, CA July 2013, “Teaching versus Talking During Debriefing” and at the Brigham Young University College of Nursing Annual Research Conference Making a Difference through Transforming Evidence into Practice, Oct 2013 “Does My Teacher’s Talking Get In the Way of My Learning During Debriefing?”