Considerations for Debriefing in a Birth Center

Clinical Breakout

DATE: Friday, October 13th
TIME: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
FACULTY: Julie Moon, MS, CNM & Olga Ryan, RN, MS-NL

Debriefing has been shown to be an invaluable tool in the improvement of clinical care and outcomes in healthcare. It is advocated by the AHA and the AAP/NRP after every resuscitation. In addition, when done correctly, debriefing is known to affect a myriad of problems in the healthcare field, including caregiver morale, effective communication, improved patient outcomes, and improvement in systems and processes. Without debriefing, administrators cannot know how care is being provided in their organization, and improvements cannot be made when indicated. Debriefing plays a critical role in caregiver competency and helps inform future care decisions. While debriefing with the intent to treat is not recommended, debriefing with the intent to learn can have a positive impact on the emotional health of caregivers by helping them feel supported and empowered to provide safe and effective care.

We will explore the topic of debriefing as it can apply to birth centers, and look at the evidence that supports debriefing. We will discuss the benefits of debriefing with the intent to learn vs. the intent to treat, tools for debriefing, and ways to implement these practices in a birth center setting. We will show how birth centers have effectively implemented these practices in order to improve care and morale in their facilities.

Faculty

Julie Moon, MS, CNM
Julie is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Owner/Educator at Midwives Untethered. She travels across the country providing education to midwives, EMS providers, and birth workers and helping them to refine NRP with limited numbers of staff and unique resources and settings. She has spent years working towards making the transfer and transport of birthing families as seamless as possible by working with EMS and midwives to develop skills and protocols. She is driven to serve and guide midwives, birth workers, EMS, and all caregivers to optimize their care and their own well-being. She knows the key to this is caregivers who are self-aware, compassionate, and empowered to perform within functional systems. She is honored to guard physiologic birth and the traditions of midwifery while preserving safety and quality care.

Olga Ryan, RN, MS-NL
Olga has been an NRP instructor for more than 20 years and has been teaching NRP in the out-of-hospital birth setting since 2006. She is an experienced birth center leader having served as manager of the El Rio Birth & Women’s Health Center for 10 years and more recently as the director of Babymoon Inn, LLC in Tucson, AZ. She is a Vice-Chairperson with the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers and has been a member of AABC’s Standards Committee. Olga has served in nursing leadership positions in a variety of perinatal units since 1994, with a special interest in process improvement projects.