TY - JOUR T1 - The debrief imperative: building teaming competencies and team effectiveness JF - BMJ Quality & Safety JO - BMJ Qual Saf DO - 10.1136/bmjqs-2022-015259 SP - bmjqs-2022-015259 AU - Scott I Tannenbaum AU - Philip E Greilich Y1 - 2022/11/02 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/early/2022/11/02/bmjqs-2022-015259.abstract N2 - Healthcare providers are expected to communicate, coordinate and collaborate with people both within and outside their formal team on a regular basis, often with individuals from different professions, specialties or teams. Continuous ‘teaming’ is the norm. Almost everyone involved in the provision of healthcare must therefore possess teamwork competencies in addition to clinical expertise.Fortunately, research has matured to the point where the drivers of team effectiveness are increasingly clear. For example, in highly effective teams, team members possess shared mental models about roles, priorities and the situation; communicate information that others need and confirm their understanding; engage in mutual performance monitoring and backup behaviours and make it safe for others to speak up and ask questions.1 The research is also clear about the efficacy of team debriefs. During a debrief, team members reflect on a recent experience, discuss what went well, identify opportunities for improvement and agree on what they will do going forward. A debrief can be conducted after a training event (eg, a simulation), work experience (eg, treating a patient) or time period (eg, end of a shift). Teams that engage in debriefs generally outperform others2 3 because debriefs promote learning and enable teams to adjust. Individuals also benefit from participating in debriefs,4 in part by developing transportable teamwork competencies they can use whenever teaming is required.Research has examined how to optimise team debriefs. In this issue of BMJ Quality & Safety, Kolbe et al observed and analysed over 18 000 interactions that occurred during 50 team debriefings in the simulation centre of a large urban academic medical hospital.5 The debriefs followed three high-risk anaesthetic training scenarios and averaged 49 min in duration. Participants were all employed as anaesthesia care providers and the debriefs were led by clinical simulation educators who were trained … ER -