Exploring the role of power during debriefing of interprofessional simulations

Interprofessional simulation aims to improve teamwork and patient care by bringing participants from multiple professions together to practice simulated patient care scenarios. Yet, power dynamics may influence interprofessional learning during simulation, which typically occurs during the debriefing. This issue has received limited attention to date but may explain why communication breakdowns and conflicts among healthcare teams persist despite widespread adoption of interprofessional simulation. This study explores the role of power during interprofessional simulation debriefings. We collected data through observations of seven interprofessional simulation sessions and debriefings, four focus groups with simulation participants, and four interviews with simulation facilitators. We identified ways in which power dynamics influenced discussions during debriefing and sometimes limited participants’ willingness to share feedback and speak up. We also found that issues related to power that arose during interprofessional simulations often went unacknowledged during the debriefing, leaving healthcare professionals unprepared to navigate power discrepancies with other members of healthcare teams in practice. Given that the goal of interprofessional simulation is to allow professionals to learn together about each other, explicitly addressing power in debriefing after interprofessional simulation may enhance learning.