Promoting Excellence and Reflective Learning in Simulation (PEARLS) - Development and Rationale for a Blended Approach to Health Care Simulation Debriefing

Q: What key elements define effective debriefing in the PEARLS discussion?

Effective debriefing involves active learner participation, developmental intent focused on learning and improvement, discussion of specific events, and input from multiple sources.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Nguyễn Văn Học

Promoting Excellence and Reflective Learning in Simulation (PEARLS) presents an integrated conceptual framework for blended health care simulation debriefing and explains its development rationale. The framework supports scripted debriefings through a PEARLS debriefing tool that guides facilitation based on selected educational strategies: learner self-assessment, focused discussion facilitation, and directive feedback and/or teaching. PEARLS helps educators translate simulation experience into structured reflection, supporting performance improvement, expertise, clinical decision making, technical skill growth, teamwork, and interprofessional collaboration.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Summary statement

PEARLS framework and rationale

Educational strategies integrated into PEARLS

Purpose and scope of PEARLS in simulation

Definition and essential elements of debriefing

Debriefing vs. feedback

Performance gaps and exceptional performance

Evidence and challenges in facilitating debriefings

Need for practical guidance and scripted approaches

Promoting Excellence and Reﬂective Learning in Simulation (PEARLS) Development and Rationale for a Blended Approach to Health Care Simulation Debriefing Walter Eppich, MD, MEd; Adam Cheng, MD, FRCPC, FAAP Summary Statement: We describe an integrated conceptual framework for a blended approach to debrieﬁng called PEARLS [Promoting Excellence And Reﬂective Learning in Simulation] . We provide a rationale for scripted debrieﬁng and introduce a PEARLS debrieﬁng tool designed to facilitate implementation of the new framework. The PEARLS framework integrates 3 common educational strategies used during debrieﬁng, namely,(1) learner self-assessment,(2) facilitating focused discussion, and (3) providing information in the form of directive feedback and/or teaching. The PEARLS debrieﬁng tool incorporates scripted language to guide the debrieﬁng, depending on the strategy chosen. The PEARLS framework and debrieﬁng script ﬁll a need for many health care educators learning to facilitate debrieﬁngs in simulation-based education. The PEARLS offers a structured framework adaptable for debrieﬁng simulations with a variety in goals, including clinical decision making, improving technical skills, teamwork training, and interprofessional collaboration. (Sim Healthcare 00:00Y00, 2015) Key Words: Debrieﬁng, Feedback, Debrieﬁng script, Health care simulation. Health care educators have recognized the essential role of debrieﬁng in simulation learning contexts 1Y8 to help transform experience into learning through reﬂection.9Y12 Debrieﬁng is a facilitated reﬂection in the cycle of experiential learning3 to help identify and close gaps in knowledge and skills.13 Debrieﬁng includes the following essential elements 14: (a) active participation with more than just the passive receipt of feedback; (b) developmental intent focused on learning and improvement (more than a performance review); (c) discussion of speciﬁc events; and (d) input from multiple sources. Whereby debrieﬁng represents a conversation between simulation participants and educator(s), feedback is the speciﬁc information about an observed performance compared with a standard.15 Effective debrieﬁngs From the Department of Medical Education (W.E.), Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine; Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and KidSIM Simulation Program (A.C.), Department of Pediatrics, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Canada. Reprints: Walter Eppich, MD, MEd, Department of Medical Education, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, 225 E. Chicago Ave Box 62, Chicago, IL 60611 (e<[mail: weppich@gmail.com](mail: weppich@gmail.com)). W.E. teaches on multiple simulation educator courses. He receives salary support from the Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, MA. All salary support is paid to his institution to offset clinical duties. He receives intermittent per diem honoraria from PAEDSIM, a pediatric simulation collaborative in German-speaking countries, to teach simulation educator courses. A.C. has received prior grant support from the American Heart Association for work related to scripted debrieﬁng. He also serves as a simulation educator and consultant with Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. A.C. also serves as At-Large-Member of the Board of Directors, the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. The authors declare no conﬂict of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site ([www.simulationinhealthcare.com](www.simulationinhealthcare.com)). Copyright * 2015 Society for Simulation in Healthcare DOI: 10.1097/SIH.0000000000000072 Vol. 00, Number 00, Month 2015 can provide a forum for feedback that is essential for performance improvement 14Y21 and deliberate practice that promotes expertise.22Y

FAQs

What key elements define effective debriefing in the PEARLS discussion?

Effective debriefing involves active learner participation, developmental intent focused on learning and improvement, discussion of specific events, and input from multiple sources.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Nguyễn Văn Học