Few events in a critical care provider’s career are more emotionally intense than the need to medically resuscitate a child, a literal life-and-death situation.
Particularly after unsuccessful resuscitation, care providers may experience insomnia, fatigue, self-doubt and sadness, among other behavior-influencing feelings. Debriefing sessions – defined as a reflective discussion involving two or more members of the medical resuscitation team – provide an opportunity to reexamine the critical event and identify opportunities for improvement. These sessions have been shown to increase provider morale and benefit patients by improving cardiopulmonary resuscitation survival and neurologic outcomes.
In the article “Survey of pediatric critical care fellows on postresuscitation debriefing,” now published in Volume 10, Issue 4 of Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews (JPCRR), pediatric critical care fellows from across the United States responded to a survey conducted by researchers at Advocate Children’s Hospitals in Illinois. From this feedback, the authors concluded that – despite almost universal opinion that this practice is useful for provider well-being and performance – the majority of fellows had not received formal debriefing training, nor do they feel comfortable leading a debriefing.
“There is a clear need for increased incorporation of debriefing training into pediatric critical care curricula,” the authors wrote. “The availability of a structured training program could allow fellows to hone their skills and confidence in debriefing, potentially leading to increased use of debriefing, future reduction in provider burnout, and improvement in patient outcomes.”
Other contents in Volume 10, Issue 4
Original research articles published within the latest issue of JPCRR include a randomized controlled trial on the effects of lay health coaching for patients self-managing their chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD; a proposed means of obtaining individualized patient-preferred outcomes for knee replacement surgery; validation of a patient experience survey that measures the quality of specialty care coordination; and a qualitative exploration of refugee perspectives on provider engagement.
Additionally, the issue includes an editorial on how to formulate and write a clear research study question, a narrative review on the various benefits of home-based primary care for homebound older adults and an acknowledgment of the contributions made by JPCRR peer reviewers in 2023.
One last issue highlight is a collection of study abstracts and case reports presented by Illinois- and Wisconsin-based researchers at the 49th annual Advocate Aurora Scientific Day, a scientific symposium for faculty, fellows, residents, nurses and other health professionals.
Published by Advocate Aurora Research Institute, the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews is a PubMed-indexed medical journal dedicated to scholarly works aimed at improving patient-centered care practices, health outcomes and patient experiences. JPCRR’s 2022 Journal Impact Factor™, as calculated by Clarivate™ for the Web of Science, is 1.7. Quarterly circulation exceeds 30,000 readers hailing from around the world.
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