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 in simulation-based education. The researchers conducted a detailed micro-analysis of communications and behaviours among and between team members and debriefers, illuminating patterns of interactions that occur during debriefs. For example, they revealed how debriefers’ use of feedback and open-ended questions encouraged participants to verbalise their thoughts and mental models. Overall, their study yielded insights about how to structure and facilitate a constructive debrief, including how to balance inquiry and advocacy, and it reinforced the need to explore how debriefs work.

While there is a need for further research, we would argue that enough is already known to merit an increased use of team debriefs, both in educational and clinical settings. In this commentary, we compare debriefing in education and clinical practice, highlight a few universal debriefing guidelines while acknowledging the need for purpose-driven practices, endorse the call for building debriefing skills by Kolbe et al, and suggest three specific research needs.