From the Frontlines: A Qualitative Study of Staff Experiences With Clinical Event Debriefing

Clinical event debriefing (CED) can improve patient care and outcomes, but little is known about CED across inpatient settings, and participant experiences have not been well described. In this qualitative study, we sought to characterize and compare staff experiences with CED in 2 hospital units, with a goal of generating recommendations for a hospital-wide debriefing program.

We conducted 32 semistructured interviews with clinical staff who attended a CED in the previous week. We explored experiences with CED, with a focus on barriers and facilitators. We used content analysis with constant comparative coding to understand priorities identified by participants. We used inductive reasoning to develop a set of CED practice recommendations to match participant priorities.

Three primary themes emerged related to CED barriers and facilitators. (1) Factors affecting attendance: most respondents voiced a need for frontline staff inclusion in CED, but they also cited competing clinical duties and scheduling conflicts as barriers. (2) Factors affecting participant engagement: respondents described factors that influence participant engagement in reflective discussion. They described that the CED leader must cultivate a psychologically safe environment in which participants feel empowered to speak up, free from judgment. (3) Factors affecting learning and systems improvement: respondents emphasized that the CED group should generate a plan for improvement with accountable stakeholders. Collectively, these priorities propose several recommendations for CED practice, including frontline staff inclusion.

In this study, we propose recommendations for CED that are derived from first-hand participant experiences. Future study will explore implementation of CED practice recommendations.