04.25.2023
Claim Study
Patient Care At Risk: Preventing Medication Errors
This medication error case study discusses a tragic claim involving a newborn infant.
Learn MoreDebriefing is a process most healthcare employees link to crisis events.
Debriefing as a performance improvement (PI) tool allows risk management to gain the powerful ability to obtain insight from staff members who were directly involved in an event. Debriefing is a conversation among those involved in a situation to discuss what happened, what was done right and what could be improved upon. PI tools are used in healthcare to determine errors or flaws in processes so changes can be implemented to improve them.
Unfortunately, the debriefing process often makes staff members uncomfortable and is not used regularly in many healthcare organizations. Many associate it with event investigation after a sentinel event or serious medical error. Debriefing may also be used after traumatic events or an extremely stressful situation, such as a violent/aggressive episode involving a patient or even a natural disaster.
Since debriefing is associated with events that cause extreme emotion, it is up to those conducting the process to create a positive experience for employees. By initiating these positive conversations, employees will be more likely to be candid and their feedback vital to improving healthcare facility processes.
To use debriefing as an effective PI tool:
Using staff members to help identify opportunities for improvement is extremely beneficial because they are the best to suggest solutions that will work for them in their daily workflow, recommend areas where they need more training, and identify problematic processes or steps. Employees will also have increased buy-in for new processes because they are allowed to be part of the solution for positive change in their work environment.
Want more resources about debriefing? Visit our High Reliability and Culture of Safety toolkit for guidelines, sample checklists, and more.
04.25.2023
Claim Study
This medication error case study discusses a tragic claim involving a newborn infant.
Learn More
01.04.2023
Article
This year, our annual Workplace Safety Funds grant program is offering three new initiatives for member projects dedicate...
Learn More
12.19.2022
Article
This claims scenario addresses how such worker injuries may occur in inclement weather and what you can do to mitigate th...
Learn More