Addressing the educational gap in the role of law enforcement personnel in the resuscitation bay.

BACKGROUND: Health care workers are often uncertain of the role of law enforcement personnel in the resuscitation bay. A cross-sectional, quality improvement project was designed with an educational intervention to address the knowledge gaps. METHODS: There were 2 sessions for trauma surgery and emergency medicine faculty, residents, and staff. The first was a formal presentation by hospital risk management and security focused on answering questions generated by real-life scenarios. After reviewing feedback from the first session, the second session was designed as a panel discussion led by attending physicians who reviewed various clinical scenarios. A pre/postsurvey was administered, including potential clinical scenarios with multiple-choice answers and open feedback. RESULTS: There were 64 presurvey and 31 postsurvey respondents from the first session (48.4%). Significantly more questions were answered correctly from pre to postsurvey (5.5 vs 6.7/16 questions; U = 798.0, P = .048). Of the 14 (45.2%) respondents who provided open-ended feedback, 50% indicated confusion, and 21.4% expressed strong, negative emotions. In the second session, there were 39 presurvey and 18 postsurvey respondents (46.2%). Again, significantly more questions were answered correctly after the second session (2.2 vs 4.5/7 questions; U = 115.0, P ≤ .001). Feedback highlighted that the panel format was considered more helpful than the formal didactic of the first session. CONCLUSION: Confusion about the role of law enforcement personnel in the clinical environment can be partially addressed using multidisciplinary joint conferences that should be led by clinicians to ensure real-life clinical applicability. Further education and law enforcement personnel role clarification for health care workers are critical to protect patient rights.

Building a Program of Expanded Peer Support for the Entire Health Care Team: No One Left Behind.

BACKGROUND: Medical errors can cause second victim syndrome (SVS) in caregivers. Literature describing the development of effective peer support programs is limited. This article describes the implementation of a peer support program for an entire health care system. METHODS: The research team initially trained 52 supporters representing all clinical areas throughout an urban academic quaternary care campus. Each then supported at-risk colleagues, raised awareness of SVS, and recruited others for training. Triggers for peer support expanded to include medical errors, unanticipated patient outcomes, inability to stop the progression of medical conditions, medical emergencies of colleagues, aggressive behavior by a patient/family member, and COVID-19 events. Data reporting supporters' efforts were summarized. After the initial 5-hour session, training was condensed into 2.5 hours. The effectiveness of these training sessions was assessed. The Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST) was used to assess program effectiveness three and nine months after implementation. RESULTS: By 18 months, a blended program was achieved with 149 supporters: 81 medical college and 68 hospital personnel. Providers received 46.5% of support efforts and hospital personnel 47.9%. The most common event supported was inability to stop the progression of medical conditions (24.5%). Both training sessions improved attendees' knowledge of SVS and improved their comfort with teaching others how to support a second victim. Both SVEST surveys showed that nonwork and supervisor support rated highest, followed by colleague support. Institution support rated lowest. CONCLUSION: The team successfully implemented a peer support program with trained supporters from various clinical disciplines for distressing events beyond medical errors.