Aquatic Drill Debrief Questions with Lifeguards

Providing lifeguards with frequent realistic training is the key to establishing professionalism within your aquatics staff and ensuring a strong culture of safety. An important part to training is also providing staff with constructive feedback. This feedback will allow staff to continue to grow in their skills and feel more confident when responding to an event.

Some areas on feedback you may focus on are: CPR positioning, hand placement, airway management, communication and teamwork. Below you will find example questions that can be used when discussing a lifeguard’s experience after a drill.

 General Questions
  • How was that experience?
  • Were you confident, nervous, etc.?
  • What do you think you did well?
  • What would you change about how you responded, if anything?
  • What will you take from this drill into your next shift?
  • What advice would you give a new guard?
Recognition
  • What first alerted you to the event?
  • Why were you positioned where you were?
  • What went through your head when you first recognized the event?
  • Did you know it was a drill?
Extrication
  • Why did you choose that location for extrication?
  • What were you trying to accomplish?
  • Did you encounter any unexpected problems?
Primary Care—Breaths/Compressions
  • How did you evaluate what needed to be done?
  • Was there anything you didn’t expect?
  • Did you get tired?
Secondary Care—AED/O2
  • When did you notice that the equipment arrived?
  • Was the equipment ready to go?