Perioperative Critical Incident Responses at a Major Trauma Center: Baseline Assessment, Adaptive Program…

StudyA&A practice· Aug 2026

Perioperative Critical Incident Responses at a Major Trauma Center: Baseline Assessment, Adaptive Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

Megan L Allen, Janette Wright, Kara Allen

Emergency Trauma CareStudyClinical practiceQ4IF 0.6

Duty relief after critical incidents rose sharply following debriefing program implementation.

Perioperative Critical Incident Responses at a Major Trauma Center: Baseline Assessment, Adaptive Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

Megan L Allen … Kara Allen

A&A practice · Aug 2026 · Q4 in General Medicine

Background

Clinical critical incidents in anesthesiology practice may adversely affect clinician well-being.

Purpose

We aimed to determine baseline post-clinical critical incident practices at our institution, develop and implement a context-adapted program, and evaluate its integration into practice and its impact.

Methods

We undertook a mixed-methods study.

n = 55

Results

debriefing sharply boosted duty relief after critical incidents

Baseline

27%

Post-program

64%

More results

The baseline survey (N = 55/111; 50% response rate) generally demonstrated high psychological safety.

Debriefing was a highly emotional experience, logistical barriers were common, and the purpose of debrief sessions was sometimes ambiguous.

More results

Observed vulnerability in senior staff in post-incident support sessions was welcomed by trainees, but sometimes challenging for senior clinicians.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Our stakeholder-informed, contextually adapted debriefing program was acceptable, feasible, and may mitigate the adverse effects of critical incidents while fostering professional growth.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Persisting challenges included logistics, the tension between a well-being and clinical review focus, and differential risks and benefits by career stage.

Perioperative Critical Incident Responses at a Major Trauma Center: Baseline Assessment, Adaptive Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

Perioperative Critical Incident Responses at a Major Trauma Center: Baseline Assessment, Adaptive Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

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