Health care workers are not always good at diagnosing their own physical and emotional trauma. They don’t need to be on the front line to be impacted by the loss of loved ones or patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who manage or supervise employees at hospitals, nursing homes or other health care facilities need to know what to look for to make sure their staff members are not reaching distress over the losses they see on a daily basis.
This virtual workshop (delivered via Zoom*) is designed to demonstrate how to conduct a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). The purpose of such an intervention is to lessen the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral impact that trauma has on individuals and work groups. For the past year, COVID-19 has been a plague for all of health care and in particular for nursing homes and those who care for the elderly. This is an interactive program and participants will be expected to contribute during the CISD demonstration and either respond to their own experiences related to the pandemic or role-play the experiences of front line personnel.
Attendees will:
- Identify the need to address traumatic exposure for their staff.
- Recognize Compassion Fatigue as an example of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
- Identify the seven-step process of a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.
- Differentiate CISD from a Defusing and specify when each is more appropriately employed.
*The Zoom link will be sent to registered students a week prior to the beginning of the program. Materials for the classes will be available online prior to the beginning of each class.