The impact and experience of debriefing for clinical staff following traumatic events in clinical settings: A systematic review

Abstract

Health care professionals are more frequently exposed to potentially traumatic events than individuals in other professions. Repeated trauma exposure can significantly impact both physical and mental health. In clinical settings, the term "debriefing" refers to a group meeting during which clinical events and decisionmaking are reviewed and discussed to improve clinical practice. The present review investigated the use of debriefing for clinical staff in clinical settings following exposure to direct and vicarious trauma. We examined whether the use of posttrauma debriefing impacts symptoms of distress and explored how clinical staff experience debriefing; we also investigated the factors that influence this experience. A systematic search of five electronic databases was conducted between August 31 and September 2, 2019. Included articles (N = 13) described the use of debriefing in clinical settings with clinical staff following a traumatic event. We assessed methodological quality and performed a narrative synthesis.Four studies found some evidence of the benefits of debriefing for reducing psychological sequelae to traumatic events. Seven studies commented on factors that clinical staff perceived to be important for the debriefing to feel helpful, including the being given the opportunity for reflection, gaining a shared experience, and having the right peer facilitator. Some evidence suggests that debriefing with staff working in clinical settings can reduce posttraumatic distress symptoms, and subjective evidence suggests that clinical staff members perceive debriefing to be useful. Due to the limited literature, no firm conclusions could be drawn, and further methodologically sound research is required.

Psychological Effects of Professional Exposure to Trauma and Human Suffering: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The impact of these conditions has fostered over the last years a growing interest in the development of prevention and intervention measures (Kim et al, 2021). Preventive measures such as supervision (Ashley-Binge & Cousins, 2020; Branson, 2019), self-care (Flint, 2018; Meichenbaum, 2016), or psychological treatments including CBT (Pirelli et al, 2020), debriefing (Grundlingh et al, 2017; Scott et al, 2021), mindfulness, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Pakenham & Stafford‐brown, 2012; Pirelli et al, 2020). However, despite this variety of measures, none of them have been proven to be effective evidence-based practices (i.e., lack of systematic empirical research evaluating its effectiveness and lack of RCTs).…”

Interprofessional clinical event debriefing-does it make a difference? Attitudes of emergency department care providers to INFO clinical event debriefings

“…Debriefing clinical events has been associated with lower stress [9]. Stress relief was described in different ways in this study.…”

A systematic scoping review on the evidence behind debriefing practices for the wellbeing/emotional outcomes of healthcare workers

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