IHI Open School Short
Video Transcript: What is “Ask, Tell, Ask”?

Connie Davis, NP, Co-Director of Centre for Collaboration, Motivation and Innovation

“Ask, Tell, Ask” is just a simple reminder to clinicians of a way to increase the chances of their information or advice landing on receptive ears. So the way that “Ask, Tell, Ask” works is that with the first “ask,” you have a couple of options. One good option is to ask permission to give information or advice. That’s a really good way to respect that person’s autonomy. Another way to do it is to ask what they already know or what they want to know, so you’re really gearing your information or advice to what they’re interested in. So you have two options for that first “ask.”

For “tell,” you need to tell your message simply, just one or two points, in what you might think of as living room language. So really focus in on things that are personal or specific to that individual and that situation.

Then for the last “ask,” you again have two options. You can ask what they think of the information that you gave or you can ask a teach-back question to check for understanding.

Ask permission, or how much they want to know, tell your information clearly and concisely, and then ask what they think of it or check for understanding using teach-back.