(122) Students’ Perspectives on Team Debrief After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Are We Doing Enough?

Introduction: Team debrief (TD) is a vital component post-cardiopulmonary arrest and resuscitation events (codes), particularly for medical trainees; however, post-code TD is often overlooked. We sought to evaluate the perspectives of healthcare students regarding their experience with post-code TD in their training programs.

Methods: Email invitations with a link to an anonymous survey were sent to program directors of respiratory therapy students (RT), nursing students (NS), and medical students (MS) to be forwarded to their trainees. Survey questions addressed demographics, past TD training experience, code experience, and TD preference.

Results: 101 students responded to the survey; 56 RT, 9 NS, and 36 MS. 55 (54.5%) had attended real codes during their training. Of those, only 17 (31%) reported ever experiencing a post-code TD and 18 (33%) had received TD training. Both those with and without TD training agreed that TD training is important.

Fear/discomfort in speaking up was the most often cited significant barrier to conducting post-code TD, followed by being a junior trainee and perceived lack of time. Conversely, students noted promoting teamwork and solidarity among team members as the top benefit to post-code TD, followed by identifying areas of systems and process improvement. Reported duration of post-code TD experienced by students ranged 2-45 minutes, with most < 15 minutes.

Most participants (87/101, 86%) believed the attending physician or code team leader should initiate TD. Of the 17 students with prior post-code TD, 11 (65%) reported that someone other than the attending physician, such as nurse, respiratory therapist, and medical trainees, initiated TD. Emotional processing and praise for individual performance were most frequently noted to occur during TD, as well as discussion of systems improvement and occasional constructive criticism.

Conclusions: Healthcare students view post-code TD as beneficial but report infrequent TD experience during training and prefer someone more senior to initiate TD. Students perceive TD to play a positive role in teambuilding and processing of emotions. Additional support from senior team members to lead post-code TD may improve students’ training experience and typically takes minimal time to complete.