Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 427
Ask for the plan in their own words
Teach-back closes the communication loop by asking people to reconstruct critical information in their own words and requiring the communicator to repair the explanation when understanding remains incomplete.
Premise
Teach-back replaces assumed understanding with observable evidence of what a message produced. After explaining a medication, discharge plan, consent point, self-care task, or next step, the professional asks the patient or caregiver to describe it in their own words or demonstrate the action. Misunderstanding triggers a different explanation and another check. The operational shift is to treat failed understanding as a signal to repair the message, not as a defect in the recipient.
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryIntervention Methods & Practices
- DomainMeaning & Clarity
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Intervention Methods & Practices
Organizes actions intended to facilitate, plan, train, negotiate, coordinate or change a situation. It connects a practical purpose with a way of working, whose conditions and consequences must be examined.
- KnowledgeTeach-Back