Helping clinicians debrief themselves: a simple how-to guide

Abstract

The operating theatre is a dynamic and challenging environment where effective teamwork is essential. Routine clinical debriefings, which involve brief reflections on collaboration to identify successes and areas for improvement, have proved to enhance teamwork, particularly in the operating theatre. However, barriers such as time constraints, conflicting priorities, and a lack of standardised debriefing processes hinder their regular use. Implementation of TALK©, a voluntary self-debriefing method, showed significant improvements in debriefing performance and integration of debriefing into routine practice, although long-term consistency remains a challenge.