Implementing clinical debriefing programmes.

Critical event debriefing (CED) or ‘hot debriefings’ (HoDs) can be described as a trigger-based, immediate postevent, interprofessional, expertly facilitated conversation where clinicians recount, reflect on, and improve personally and as a team.1 The process and experience of clinicians who cared for the patient is more complex and involves thoughts and emotions that go beyond the ‘case’ or ‘resuscitation’ and the debriefing itself.2 The American Heart Association guidelines for neonatal resuscitation highlight ‘team debriefing’ as a key step in their cognitive aid.3 There is evidence that implementing a ‘Cold Debrief’ programme for teams that care for patients in cardiac arrest improves outcomes4 yet in practice 33% of events are routinely debriefed.5 Critical events in anaesthesia are debriefed infrequently and those associated with communication breakdowns were even less likely to be debriefed6. How do we fuel …