An Evaluation of a New Debriefing Framework: REFLECT

Postresuscitation debriefing (PRD) is recommended by the American Heart Association guidelines but is infrequently performed. Prior studies have identified barriers for pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellows including lack of a standardized curriculum.

Our objective was to create and assess the feasibility of a time-limited, structured PRD framework entitled REFLECT: Review the event, Encourage team participation, Focused feedback, Listen to each other, Emphasize key points, Communicate clearly, and Transform the future.

Each PEM fellow (n = 9) at a single center was a team leader of a pre-intervention and post-intervention videotaped, simulated resuscitation followed by a facilitated team PRD. Our intervention was a 2-hour interactive, educational workshop on debriefing and the use of the REFLECT debriefing aid. Videos of the pre-intervention and post-intervention debriefings were blindly analyzed by video reviewers to assess for the presence of debriefing characteristics contained in the REFLECT debriefing aid. PEM fellow and team member assessments of the debriefings were completed after each pre-intervention and post-intervention simulation, and written evaluations by PEM fellows and team members were analyzed.

All 9 PEM fellows completed the study. There was an improvement in the pre-intervention and post-intervention assessment of the REFLECT debriefing characteristics as determined by fellow perception (63% to 83%, P < 0.01) and team member perception (63% to 82%, P < 0.001). All debriefings lasted less than 5 minutes. There was no statistical difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention debriefing time (P = 1.00).

REFLECT is a feasible debriefing aid designed to incorporate evidence-based characteristics into a PRD.