Staff debriefing after a critical incident in the emergency department: A practice model for Pine Medical Center

The purpose of this paper was to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of debriefing models and to propose an effective model for Pine Medical Center. Pine Medical Center is a critical access, 25 bed hospital located in Sandstone, Minnesota. The facility was recently designated as a Trauma Level Four health care facility by the Minnesota Statewide Trauma System. The facility is now licensed to handle a more broad scope of trauma situations rather than diverting these cases out to other facilities. Pine Medical Center expects to see an increase in the amount of trauma cases presenting to the emergency department each year because of this designation. Pine Medical Center is located in a rural area of Minnesota so the facility must also deal with many unique situations such as a shortage of staffing, staff members who often intimately know the patients that present, and the facility is many miles away from tertiary care facilities. Given the nature of trauma cases and the unique demographic problems which Pine Medical Center faces, it is pertinent that the staff have a debriefing model to utilize following critical incidents. Pine Medical Center will be utilizing the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing model. This is a comprehensive program which begins with the pre-crisis phase and ends with the post-crisis phase. The goal was to address and mitigate the acute psychological distress staff members may be feeling. It is expected that this model will be suitable for the unique needs of Pine Medical Center staff and will be a helpful tool in eliminating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.