Debrief
After the exercise/incident, it is important to capture lessons learned. The evaluators should identify strengths and areas for improvement during the exercise or immediately after an incident. It is also important to get feedback from the exercise/incident participants. (See TJC standard EM 03.01.03.13) Immediately after the exercise, it is helpful to gather all the players together for a short debrief. You can also use a printed Participant Feedback Form.
Questions to Ask Participants at the Debrief
- What worked well?
- What are areas for improvement?
- What issues occurred that were not anticipated?
- Any feedback on the conduct of the exercise itself?
Review
The participant feedback, as well as the exercise evaluation guides, should be reviewed in order to develop recommendations for improvement.
After Action Reports
An After Action Report (AAR) is an overview of an incident or exercise that also discusses the strengths and areas for improvement identified by participants, evaluators, and observers. All recommendations for improvement need to be documented, prioritized, approved, and assigned to a responsible party to follow through to completion.