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Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare © (DASH)

Debriefing clinical simulation experiences is increasingly understood as a crucial step in clarifying and consolidating insights and lessons from simulations. The Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare is designed to assist in evaluating and developing debriefing skills. Debriefing is a conversation among two or more people to review a simulated event or activity in which participants explore, analyze and synthesize their actions and thought processes, emotional states and other information to improve performance in real situations. High participant engagement is a hallmark of strong debriefings because it leads to deeper levels of learning and increases the likelihood of transfer to the clinical setting.

The DASH evaluates the strategies and techniques used to conduct debriefings by examining concrete behaviors. It is based on evidence and theory about how people learn and change in experiential contexts. The DASH is designed to allow assessment of debriefings from a variety of disciplines and courses, varying numbers of participants, a wide range of educational objectives, and various physical and time constraints.

The DASH is based on an extensive literature review as well as best debriefing practices derived from an expert panel. A bibliography of the literature on which it is based is available here: DASH Bibliography .

Dash Rater Training

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Open Course Dates

Tuition
Each person must have their own computer with Internet access to participate in the practice ratings. Tuition for the 4½-hour webinar training session is as follows:

  • $350 USD for the first registrant from an institution
  • $250 USD for subsequent registrants for the same session from the same institution.

Depending on demands from the field and available funding, we are considering the feasibility of developing a process for certifying raters. If a certification process is emplaced, this webinar training will be the first step.

Three DASH Versions
There are three versions of the DASH. One designed for trained raters; the other two are designed for students to rate their instructors.

The DASH – Rater Version1 is a highly reliable instrument designed for use by trained raters. We offer webinar-based DASH Rater training twice per year. People who want to become Trained DASH Raters should be experienced debriefers.

Here is the link to the DASH score sheet and data collection form.

The DASH – Student Versions2 are designed for students to rate their instructors on the quality of a debriefing.
The DASH – SV Long Form asks students to rate instructors on the six DASH Elements and the Behaviors associated with each Element. There is a total of 23 Behaviors associated with the Elements. The DASH-SV Long Form takes about 5-7 minutes to complete and provides significant diagnostic information to the instructor.
The DASH – SV Short Form asks students to rate instructors on the six DASH Elements. It can be answered in less than 3 minutes, but is not as diagnostic as the longer student form.

Copyright Notice
Center for Medical Simulation, Cambridge, MA 02139, www.harvardmedsim.org. Permission is granted for you to use the Debriefing for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH) instrument in your simulation program during the validation research. If you use the DASH, you agree to provide data you collect with it to the Center for Medical Simulation (CMS), which will be used to validate the instrument. CMS will use data only in the aggregate. Please contact us at dash@harvardmedsim.org for questions.

DASH Citations
Simon R, Raemer DB, Rudolph JW. Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare – Rater Version. Cambridge, MA Center for Medical Simulation, 2009.

Simon R, Raemer DB, Rudolph JW. Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare – Student Version, Long Form. Cambridge, MA Center for Medical Simulation, 2010.

Simon R, Raemer DB, Rudolph JW. Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare – Student Version, Short Form. Cambridge, MA Center for Medical Simulation, 2010.


Acknowledgements

  1. Thanks to Adam Cheng (PI) and the EXPRESS Project for the opportunity and the support to develop the DASH. Special thanks go to the reviewers, Vinay Nadkharni, Elizabeth Hunt, Adam Cheng, Walter Eppich, Marisa Brett-Fleegler, Monica Kleinman, Kristen Nelson, Akira Nishisaki.
  2. Thanks to Kris Dreifurst who propelled the effort toward developing the DASH Student Versions and ran the initial try-outs of the instrument.



Links

The Center for Medical Simulation Home Page Link