R these 4 REAL????

debyan · Dec 3, 2002

Would be nice all we can do is complain amongst ourselves. deb

Jenny P · Dec 3, 2002

My facility used to have this type of a debriefing; working nights as long as I have, I am no longer sure if it does or not anymore. At one point many years ago, we had many problems on our unit with a new nurse manager (who was hired into the spot after the World's Best Head Nurse-- she left a HUGE space that I doubt if even God could have filled her shoes properly!). The staff was angry and bitter towards the new manager; and Administration had a series of crises meetings strictly for the staff to vent and grieve the loss of our former leader/mentor/manager/walked-on-water Head Nurse (she was injured during a code situation and needed prolonged medical treatment and finally had to retire). It really helped us all work out our grief and anger.

annies · Dec 3, 2002

My experience with CISD has always been positive. The debriefings, led by a trained team, are confidential and allow you to express your feelings. Only those that are involved are allowed in the debriefing/ defusing. That means no supervisors, managers, administration or coworker that is curious but did not participate in the incident. No solutions are offered, only support. If a participant still feels the need to explore his or her feelings, he/ she will be referred for counseling.

Check out http://www.icisf.org for teams in your area or call your local EMS agency, police or fire department.

Annie

ernurse728, LPN · Dec 3, 2002

We have a Crisis Team that can be called in for pt's families or the staff. They come to the hospital if we have a more troubling situation than usual. For instance several months ago we had a young boy killed in a tragic accident while playing with his sibling. We had tons of the childs friends there who had witnessed the accident, plus the child's family. The team came to the hospital and immediately went to the scene of the accident. They also hand out a card with a 24hr number on it in case you need to talk. They are very helpful.

CMERN · Dec 3, 2002

I am glad to see such a response to my post I had sorta begun to think "debriefing" was in fact only theory or..maybe I had dreamt it... Sjoe..GOOD point about the "retention" strategies. I am sure You can tell by my post that no such creature exist in my department ( E.R. talk about stress)., or that I know of in the hospital..Gee....I feel a Committee comin on....LOL... I am seriuosly htinking this is something that should be available more often for ALL(get it ) nurses.. Have a good day all...I am SLEEP zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....oh yeah..Maureeno what is SOF?

thnk so much U all :)

baseline · Dec 3, 2002

I have worked in two hospitals that had active defriefing and stress relief plans. EAP is always available. There is a chaplain that is also available to anyone at anytime. Our administrators door is open for those who wish to walk in......AND we get balloons and gift certificates......

purplemania, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2002

Our Chaplain is a military man trained in debriefing and dealing with trauma. He is a great source.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2002

I wish my hospital had such an animal. One week we had a run of babies die on us and it was pretty hard on the staff.

I think it's a shame that some of you consider this type of support a luxury and one you have no time for. I think your mental health is priority that has no price.

CMERN · Dec 3, 2002

dawngloves...( ha still wake-tryin to debrief myself). I agree..and no matter how strong one may be, each heart renting situation..has a way of "stickin in your craw" as my grandmother would say...

JonRN · Dec 3, 2002

I agree with you dawngloves. When I was younger and working in stressful situations all the time, I felt I was handling it just fine. In fact, I always considered myself to be "wired up backwards" i.e. the more critical the situation became, the calmer I got. But unknowingly, it was taking it's toll on me, and after I retired from Critical Care nursing I started experiencing sx's of PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, nightmares etc. I went to group for it at the VA, and now it is well-controlled by medication. Ironically, one of my major stressors is anything to do with hospitals, Dr.'s etc. d/t the fact that I witnessed so much carnage. I wish they woulda had decompression sessions back then, but I probably wouldn't have went anyway (too macho).

maureeno · Dec 3, 2002

CMERN, a SOF stands for 'show of force'; when a patient [or visitor] looks to be getting out of control or wil not comply with staff direction, staff 'call' for a SOF. We can page hospital security or use only our floor staff. We make a plan, assign limbs and roles if the "show' needs to become hands on. Many times the plan is take patients to their room and physically restrain them. Other times it is to walk them to their room for a timeout, or to give them an injection. During a SOF only one person is in charge and only that one person communicates with the patient.

This probably all sounds horrible, but on an involuntary psychiatric unit it is not uncommon and usually very smoothly and safely accomplished, especially since we debrief. We are always assessing how to avoid SOFs.

Zee_RN, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2002

I didn't get the impression that people "didn't have the time" for debriefing or counseling EXCEPT when it was only offered while on duty. If you can only attend a counseling session while you're supposed to be caring for your patients, of course there's no time! If you can attend independent of your work schedule, then it would be quite valuable. That's the impression I got from the people who said "there's no time"--no time DURING YOUR SHIFT.

We do not have this available at my facility. It would be nice to have.