Debriefing Loss, Grief and Death for Critical Care Providers

Overview

This workshop provides all levels of critical care staff with mindfulness and communications tools which will enable them to better move through the intense emotions which arise upon the death or severe debility of a patient.

Intended Audience

This workshop is geared toward the following:

• Critical Care Unit Staff (ICU, PICU, NICU, CCU, TRACU): intensivists and other doctors; nurses, respiratory therapists, unit aides and clerks, unit administrators.
• Burn Unit Staff
• Emergency Department and Trauma Center Staff
• First Responder Emergency Services Personnel

Starting Point

Death and significant loss in critical care settings have huge impact on the unit's nurses, doctors, therapists and support staff. Failing to honor and address these natural human reactions will lead to preventable mistakes and weaker care teams in the future.

Benefits

By attending to the strong emotions triggered by the life and death events which do occur in critical care settings, care providers can avoid two potentially deadly risks which arise by avoiding the impact of such occurrences:

1. This work helps care providers avoid the creation of "trigger points" within their being and psyche. These trigger points will be activated during future high-intensity situations, causing care providers to be distracted at precisely the wrong moment, when total focus is required, which can lead to catastrophic mistakes, and even death.
2. Failure to attend to the impact of huge emotions creates a team environment where self-deception is fostered, honest self-knowledge unlearned, and truthful, trust-building communication is weakened.

Format

Grounded in both the tenets of common mindfulness practices and specific communications disciplines, the workshop will create an environment of intense self-inquiry around issues of life, death, guilt, grieving, spirituality and needs. This starting point will give all participants a chance to find common vitality with other workshop members, and recognize personal patterns of response to critical situations.

Specific techniques are then offered and practiced which help participants develop skills for facing intense emotions, during the "debrief" process.