Policy Development: Stress Management and Critical Incident Debriefing

Workplace stress and associated disorders (occupational burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, critical incident stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, etc.) disproportionately affect healthcare workers, especially those working in critical care and emergency environments. The financial cost of stress related after-effects experienced by health care workers exceeds $191 billion each year and includes the cost of associated decreased quality of patient care, missed diagnoses, medical errors, and sentinel events leading to patient disablement or mortality. Mental health interventions such as stress management education and critical incident debriefings have been proven effective in reducing workplace stress and building personal resilience. A gap in practice was identified in the lack of a formal stress management education process in the participating facility. The purpose of this DNP project was to obtain consensus from a multidisciplinary panel of content experts to determine pertinent components for inclusion in a Stress Management and Critical Incident policy brief. The theoretical model guiding this project was the transactional model of stress and coping, which provides an interactive approach to developing coping skills and resiliency. This policy draft may be used to develop a formal program of stress management education for leadership and staff, critical incident debriefing, and institutional changes to promote a safe and effective work environment. Keywords: stress, critical incident, debriefing, occupational burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, coping, resilience