Who Can Use Teach-back?

Anyone in clinical or non-clinical settings can use teach-back.

Guidance and Resources

Using Teach-back in Practice for Different Professions or Settings: Lead-ins and Questions to Assist with Understanding

  • Examples of taking responsibility, teach-back topics, and non-shaming open-ended questions for various health team members and settings. Click here to download.

Role-specific Teach-back and Open-ended Question Examples: Cardiology

  • A cardiology team shares role-specific examples for using teach-back and non-shaming open-ended questions. Click here to download.

Role-specific Teach-back and Open-ended Question Examples: Neurovascular

  • A Canadian neurovascular team shares role-specific examples for using teach-back and non-shaming open-ended questions. Click here to download.

Multiple Providers and Patients Demonstrate Teach-back for Different Roles or Settings

  • These videos depict a variety of health team members using the 10 Elements of Teach-back in various settings. Click here to download.

Documentation and Interprofessional Collaboration

  • Everyone in the health service or care continuum can further support patients, families, and clients in subsequent care delivery, plans, and settings when staff know how well people are able to teach back. Click here to download.

Videos (Using Teach-back in Various Settings)

Health and Dental Team Members Using Teach-back in Various Health and Dental Settings 

Pediatrician using teach-back and show-back with patient and parent with a new asthma inhaler – English (1:35)

Internal Medicine physician using teach-back and show-back with Spanish-speaking patient and interpreter for asthma inhaler – Spanish (2:22)

Dentist using teach-back for HPV vaccine (:18)

Pharmacist using teach-back with a family member picking up a prescription for her grandfather (1:38)

Physical therapist using teach-back for patient exercises at a home health visit (1:41)

Clinical social worker using teach-back with grandparent about her granddaughter’s diabetes care services during a telemedicine visit (1:05)

Community health worker using teach-back while explaining COVID vaccination (1:32)

Dental Team Members Using Teach-back and Related Health Literacy Practices

Dentist using complex oral health language (:16)

Dentist using plain oral health language (:39)

Dentist explaining HPV vaccine using plain language (3:17)

Dentist asking for teach-back for HPV vaccine discussion – (:18)

Parent not explaining correctly; Dentist re-explaining and checking again (1:15)

Parent explaining back correctly (:37)

Dental hygienist explaining HPV vaccine hand-out (:28)

Teach-back Any Time Anywhere

Meeting attendees using teach-back (:40)

Click below to learn more about the essentials of teach-back, and who, where, when, and how to use it.

Using the 10 Elements

Learn more about each Element.

Culture and Language

Address culture and communication needs.

Who Can Use Teach-back?

Any clinical or non-clinical team member.

Where can Teach-back be used?

In any clinical or non-clinical setting.

Using Teach-back in Practice for Different Professions or Settings: Lead-ins and Questions to Assist with UnderstandingRole-specific Teach-back and Open-ended Question Examples: CardiologyRole-specific Teach-back and Open-ended Question Examples: NeurovascularMultiple Providers and Patients Demonstrate Teach-back for Different Roles or SettingsDocumentation and Interprofessional Collaboration

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