• Stuart C Rose, Netanya Asna Ashari, Jan M Davies, Lorena Solis, and Thomas A O'Neill.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. scrose09@gmail.com.
• CJEM. 2022 Nov 1; 24 (7): 695701695-701.

BackgroundDebriefing is increasingly used in clinical environments. Surveys indicate staff support for debriefing clinical events, but little is known about the specific effects of debriefing on healthcare workers in the workplace. INFO (Immediate, Not for personal assessment, Fast facilitated feedback, and Opportunity to support and ask questions) is a charge nurse facilitated clinical event debriefing program implemented in 2016 and currently used in five Emergency Departments (ED) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There have been more than 840 documented INFO debriefings.MethodsThirty interprofessional ED healthcare workers were recruited through posters and email to take part in voluntary one-on-one interviews using a standardized question script that asked participants about their experience with INFO debriefing assessments. Specifically, participants were asked to provide demographic information, give feedback about their involvement in INFO clinical debriefings, impact of debriefings on their clinical practice, stress levels and wellbeing. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo software.ResultsForty-five healthcare workers replied to the initial recruitment methods with fifteen not responding to follow-up communication. Overall, staff satisfaction with INFO debriefing was highly rated. A qualitative thematic analysis to saturation approach was used to analyse the data. Five main themes were identified: 1.Effect of debriefing on clinical practice and patient care. 2. Psychological safety and teamwork. 3. Emotional acknowledgment after critical events. 4. Managing work stress in the ED. 5. Barriers to debriefing.ConclusionsIn this study, debriefing in the ED helped interprofessional healthcare workers manage stress, provide improved patient care and teamwork while acknowledging emotions. This study specifically involved INFO, however, there are similarities that make our findings applicable to other clinical event debriefing programs. We believe this study provides further evidence supporting debriefing in clinical care areas.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)/ Association Canadienne de Médecine d'Urgence (ACMU).

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