Teach-back is an effective approach to improve communication and understanding between clients and care providers, including doctors, nurses, front desk staff, and others. After explaining something, ask your client to teach it back to you in their own words. This isn’t a test, it’s a way to ensure you’ve explained the information clearly, so you have an opportunity to rephrase or clarify information. Care providers can also use Teach-back to confirm they have understood something the client has explained.

Here are some examples of non-shaming questions that you can ask clients to help determine their understanding:

• I want to be sure that I explained everything clearly. Can you please explain what we just talked about back to me so I can be sure I did?
• After you leave here today, someone may ask you what we talked about.What are you going to tell them about what you are going to do?
• Please show me how you are going to do this at home so I know if I was clear.

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Helpful Teach-back Tips:

• Avoid asking yes or no questions such as:
    “Do you understand?”
    “Do you have any questions?”
• Ask the client to explain using their own words
• Break down big ideas into 2 or 3 main points and check for understanding before moving onto the next idea.