• Purposeful transition: Describes deliberate verbalization by a facilitator of the intent to transitions from one topic to the next. In doing so, facilitators are providing a final opportunity for learners on the previous topic of discussion before transitioning to the next topic.
•  Pulse Check: “Pulse check” describes a strategy used by a facilitator to chime in with statements such as, “I am wondering if I could take a moment to clarify…” or asking the learners, “Are there any further questions related to [topic]?”
  • Facilitator using a “nonjudgmental approach”: Resolves the dilemma of challenging student yet creating a psychologically safe environment by employing strategies that conveys nonverbally that mistakes are discussable and never shameful, mistakes are puzzles to be learned from rather than crimes to be covered up.
  • Facilitator using a “good judgment” approach: This is one that values the expert opinion of the facilitators, while at the same time valuing the unique perspective of the learners. The idea is to learn what learners feels or thinks to drive their behaviors so that both their “failures” and successes can be understood as an ingenious, inevitable and logical solution to the problem as perceived within their own frames. Facilitators should aim to reframe from being judgmental to being curious.
  • Pair advocacy with inquiry: One particularly effective style of debriefing is to pair advocacy with inquiry. An advocacy is an assertion, observation, or statement, whereas an inquiry is a question. When pairing the two together, the facilitator acts as a conversational scientist, stating in the advocacy his or her hypothesis, and then testing the hypothesis with an inquiry.

For example, an instructor might say, “So, Student #1, I noticed that you stepped away from the patient to find the bag-mask apparatus as the vital signs were deteriorating. I was thinking there possibly were alternative means to oxygenate the patient (advocacy). So, I’m curious: how were you seeing the situation at that time? (inquiry)”  

Here, the facilitator is using advocacy plus inquiry to elicit the invisible frames that guided the learners’ actions. This is the generic approach that instructors can use in any scenario: notice a relevant result, observe what actions led to the result, and then use advocacy- inquiry to discover the frames that produced the results.

• Learner self-insight: Rudolph et. al, suggests facilitator role is to support learners in their professional development in self-assessment and self-correction vs facilitator led assessment, correction or validation (2006). They found that “reflective practitioners,” who learned to scrutinize their taken-for-granted assumptions and mental routines, skills or knowledge gaps were able to self-correct and improve their professional skills. On the other hand, those without skill in this self-scrutiny tended to seal out or ignore disconfirming data and maintained ineffective habits of practice. Facilitator role is essentially to promote reflective process through self-assessment and self-correction by learners.