Behavioral Health and Well-Being

Helping the Helpers: Utilizing Debrief Sessions to Mitigate Secondary Trauma and Foster Resilience

Concurrent Session Moderator(s)

• 

  Jillian Bybee, MD (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Professor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
  Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital
  Grand Rapids, MI
• JP

  Jacqueline Pflaum-Carlson, MD (she/her/hers)

  Henry Ford Hospital
  Detroit, MI

Despite experiencing traumatic situations while working in the pediatric critical care environment, education about secondary trauma, its effects, and mitigation strategies is limited. Few units or training programs have formal interventions for preparing and supporting training physicians to care for children and families in distress, patients at the end of life, or for other challenging situations. All physicians are likely to experience trauma in their work; therefore, such education should ideally be offered to training physicians to mitigate long-term mental health disturbances. This interactive session will highlight the success of the debrief program in a pediatric residency program in addition to other available avenues of support, including individual peer support and stress first aid.

Presentations:

• Understanding Secondary Trauma, Its Impact, and How to Manage It
• Utilizing Debriefs to Mitigate Trauma and Foster Resilience