Creating a Peer Support Program for Clinicians and Staff
A peer support service is being developed to provide emotional support to clinicians impacted by adverse events in patient care. The program aims to offer immediate, confidential, and voluntary access to peer support, serving as emotional first aid rather than therapy. Peer supporters play a crucial role in normalizing feelings, validating peers, and facilitating access to additional resources when needed. The initiative recognizes the importance of addressing the emotional well-being of healthcare professionals to prevent burnout and turnover.
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Peer Support (Best Hospital)
We are Creating a Peer Support Service for Clinicians and Staff
What is Peer Support? It is one person connecting with someone who has an understanding of what they are going through usually because they have been there. Peer support is emotional first aid for clinicians impacted by adverse events, medical errors or other traumatic events encountered in the course of caring for patients.
Why peer support? Medical errors and other unexpected patient outcomes can traumatize not only patients and their and their loved ones, but members of the care team too. Clinicians and staff may suffer emotional or physical distress, believing they have failed their patients and second-guessing their own clinical competence. Some even decide to leave their positions or professions 4
Preferred source of emotional support after a clinical event Scott, S. Jt Comm J Qual and Pt Safety. Caring for Our Own: Deploying a Systemwide Second Victim Rapid Response Team. May 2010
Hallmarks of a Peer Support Program Credibility of peers Immediate availability Voluntary access Confidential Emotional first aid (not therapy!) Facilitated access to next level of support 6
What a peer supporter DOES Provides one-on-one support to: Normalize feelings of peer Validation of your peer Assess peer s need for professional resources Direct peer to other resources as appropriate Check in with peer in the short term and long term 7
What a peer supporter does NOT do Participate in Quality Assurance, RCAs Offer disclosure coaching Address job performance issues Provide substance use disorder or violence prevention coaching Advise on malpractice risk 8
How peer supporters reach out In person (when the peer is alone or on an appropriate break from work) On the phone By email (when not urgent) 9
Challenges to providing support Stigma to reaching out for help High acuity areas have little time to integrate what has happened Intense fear of the unknown Fear a compromise of collegial relationships Fear of legal implications (e.g., HIPAA, malpractice) 10
How it will work here: Training date: Which dept. is the pilot starting: Team or point person for the program: Process for activating peer support
