This paper aims to understand the importance of debriefing in nursing care. It includes a personal case study and an analysis of the benefits and application of debriefing in a healthcare setting.
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Running head: STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE 1 Stress and Nursing Practice Name Institutional Affiliation
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STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE2 Introduction Debriefing is vital for enhancing learning from previous errors and improving performance. Debriefing is a dialogue between people to discuss the activities, thoughts, and processes involved in patient care, strengthen reflection, and suggest improvement to promote performance in future (Patient Safety Network, 2019). This paper aims to understand the importance o debriefing in nursing care. The paper involves a presentation of an actual case based on my personal experience, and an analysis of the case to explore the benefits and application of debriefing in a healthcare setting. The Case That Defined Me as a Nurse My defining moment as a nurse occurred when I was still a nursing student. During one of my nursing practicums, when I was only two years at the university, I worked in a respiratory unit where I attended to patients with various respiratory conditions. The tasks in the ward included continued monitoring of patients and completing their medications. I was starting my afternoon shifts, which would continue for the next four days. One of my patients was a 20-year-old man, who has been in and out of the hospital for pulmonary exacerbations resulting from cystic fibroids, which he was diagnosed with in childhood. The patient had undergone several treatments in the cystic fibroids centre and had managed to control the disease for the better part of his life. However, when he was 18 years old, he started experiencing severe pulmonary exacerbations. These complications resulted in multiple hospital readmissions. I had interacted with the patient for over a week in my previous shift. The patient had been placed in a private unit since there was no space in the general ward. He was the manipulative kind of patient who kept calling for attention as he had sudden chest pain. When using the breathing mask he often complained that it was irritating and uncomfortable to use. As a nurse at the hospital, the protocol required that I conduct an assessment on the patient
STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE3 and provide the necessary interventions once called upon. However, the patient was so irritating and it left me thinking that he was a nuisance. During the last day of my shift, I was asked to move the patient to the general respiratory unit as he had demonstrated significant improvements. The task did not please me since I regarded the patient as stubborn and unpleasant. Just as I was preparing the patient to transfer to the general unit, he started complaining of shortness of breath. the complains from the patient irritated me and at some point, I thought he was not genuine. This time I chose to follow the protocol and laid him on the bed and before I fixed the oxygen mask and consulted with the physician, the man had collapsed and fainted right on the bed. I called on emergency support from the healthcare team. Immediately after, some tests were carried out and it was discovered that he had kidney damage and was beginning to lose his hearing due to repeated treatment with antibiotics. He was immediately referred for a lung transplant. At this point, I discovered that I had made the best decision to pay attention to the patient’s complains since I saved his situation from worsening perceiving him as a manipulative patient. Handling the patient was my defining moment as a nurse. I realised the importance of adhering to the patient treatment protocol regardless of the nature of the patient. I also got an opportunity to practice my interpersonal skills that are vital for nursing practice. I learnt to e effective, patient, keen to details, and confident during my daily communications with patients and colleagues to ensure the development of health and therapeutic relationships. Steps I Have Taken To Overcome the Stress of This Event Since the event occurred, I decided to seek mentorship from my seniors on how to handles stressful situations. I also share my stressful experiences with friends and colleagues who often support and encourage me. Eslami, Elahi, Mohammadi, and Fallahi (2017) explained that experiencing pleasant motivation for working, enhancing personality traits, boosting professional capacity, and support from nursing manager and families are important
STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE4 strategies for coping with job stress. I have also appreciated mentorship as an important strategy for dealing with burnout, negative emotions, concerns and feelings that I may develop due to the stressful nature of nursing work environments. My mentor, an experienced nurse, is a reliable person who often listens to me and guides me on how to deal with stressful and overwhelming situations. She also supports me in professional and personal development with the focus on achieving my goals and improves patient outcomes. The Importance of Debriefings Debriefing is important after the occurrence of adverse events. Health professionals are often negatively affected at both professional, psychologically and personal levels after being involved in patient-related adverse events. The healthcare professionals may experience sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, low self-confidence and feelings of worthlessness and incompetence (Harrison, & Wu, 2017). After such adverse events, the safety and quality of patient care may be compromised as the healthcare providers may be emotionally unstable. The immediate aftermath of a traumatic event may be a threat to patient safety (Harrison, & Wu, 2017). Therefore, critical incident stress debriefing is important for professionals who have been exposed to high-stress and traumatic events Debriefing has a number of benefits in the nursing profession. It is used to improve learning performance. It is also important in the healthcare sector and stakeholders use it as a structured model for discussing unpredicted outcomes, foster opportunities for improvement and promote healing within a group setting. Debriefing is a low-cost and non-threatening strategy of achieving positive outcomes after an emergency incident (Schmidt & Haglund, 2017). Also, debriefing promoted active learning whereby the involved stakeholders are involved in active learning with a focus on social support, specific events and common goals.
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STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE5 Debriefings in the Workplace Debriefing has occasionally been us in my workplace, particularly among healthcare professionals in the critical care unit. Debriefing is often focused on event processing and information sharing between peers. The peers in this case include professionals, who are affected by the traumatic event. The professionals are important informants of each other regarding a situation that they experienced as a group. The debriefing session also involves a listening party who could be a counsellor, therapist or professional specialist among the peers, who assist the peers to process the information that they share. The listener should have professional skills that enable the members to recover from their psychological and emotional distress. Debriefings are possible in my workplace as they are low-cost and easy to conduct. They are an affordable strategy for enabling nursing professional to deal with job stress. The experts required for a successful debriefing session are also easily available in the healthcare setting. Debriefing would enable nurses to understand the root causes of various adverse events so as to derive valuable lessons. It also fosters the establishment of a favourable organizational culture that enhances support and psychological well being of professional after a traumatic incidence. Conclusion Debriefing is a vital component in stress management within the nursing environment. It is vital in the reflection of traumatic events and assessment of possible future improvements. Debriefing involves a group of individuals affected by a traumatic incident and a listener. The listener guided the discussions and provided professional support. The listener can be a therapist or an expert from within the group. Within my workplace, debriefing has been a vital tool for enhancing commitment, psychological well-being and gradual improvement in healthcare quality and delivery.
STRESS AND NURSING PRACTICE6 References Eslami Akbar, R., Elahi, N., Mohammadi, E., & Fallahi Khoshknab, M. (2017). How Do the Nurses Cope with Job Stress? A Study with Grounded Theory Approach.Journal of caring sciences,6(3), 199–211. doi:10.15171/jcs.2017.020 Harrison, R., & Wu, A. (2017). Critical incident stress debriefing after adverse patient safety events.The American journal of managed care,23(5), 310-312. Retrieved from https://www.ajmc.com/journals/issue/2017/2017-vol23-n5/critical-incident-stress- debriefing-after-adverse-patient-safety-events Patient Safety Network (2019).Debriefing for Clinical Learning. Retrieved from https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/36/Debriefing-for-Clinical-Learning Schmidt, M., & Haglund, K. (2017). Debrief in emergency departments to improve compassion fatigue and promote resiliency.Journal of Trauma Nursing,24(5), 317- 322.Retrieved fromhttps://www.nursingcenter.com/cearticle?an=00043860- 201709000-00009&Journal_ID=607948&Issue_ID=4326252