Enhancing Post-Code Blue Debriefing through Identification and Overcoming Barriers Encountered by Healthcare Practitioners.

BACKGROUND

A Code Blue in a hospital means that there is a critical medical emergency that requires immediate resuscitation, usually because of cardiac or respiratory arrest. When activated, a specific Code Blue team rapidly takes action to implement life-saving measures. Timely post-Code Blue debriefings are important for team learning, clinical outcomes, and the emotional support of healthcare workers. Debriefing is often ignored due to various problems.

AIMS: To determine what hinders healthcare professionals (HCPs) from conducting post-Code Blue debriefing, examine factors facilitating debriefing, and assess the association between the perceived barriers and the demographic characteristics of HCPs.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

A cross-sectional study involved the Code Blue teams from two tertiary hospitals in Taif City. A survey questionnaire was utilized to assess perceived barriers and facilitators that could enhance post-Code Blue debriefing. Multiple linear regression, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman's correlation, and descriptive statistics were used.

RESULTS

Three primary obstacles to successful debriefing emerged: Leadership, communication, and psychological/emotional. Most barriers pertained to leadership, such as work (mean = 3.65), inadequate resources, and lack of debriefing guidelines and effective training. Ongoing leadership support (mean = 3.75), structured protocol, and allocated time were the most effective facilitators for debriefing. Compared to their older colleagues, younger practitioners reported significantly more communication-related barriers (p = 0.037), indicating that experience may affect post-event discussions. Leadership and psychological barriers were also found to be moderately positively correlated.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals acknowledge the crucial role of post-Code Blue discussions; however, leadership, emotional, and interpersonal barriers hinder debriefing conductions. Leadership involvement, design of debriefing guidelines, and emotional safety may encourage the regular conduct of debriefing sessions.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: AbdElbagy A. Enhancing Post-Code Blue Debriefing through Identification and Overcoming Barriers Encountered by Healthcare Practitioners. Indian J Crit Care Med 2025;29(12):1026-1031.