How to cope with peds deaths

[u/[deleted]]

I worked my first peds arrest yesterday. He was under a year old. I can hear his family’s screams echoing in my head and see the defeat in my team when we called it. I know it’s part of the job we do, but it sucks and I know they don’t get easier. Does anyone have any advice or coping skills to offer? I could use it.

[u/dMwChaos]

We have both a 'hot' debrief where the team gathers round and discussed what happened there and then, and then a 'cold' debrief a few weeks later, usually via Teams.

These serve as a way to discuss the case and management from multiple angles - clinical, human factors, psychological, and so on.

This does not in any way involve management and is not any sort of governance or morbidity / mortality review - it is meant to be a safe space for constructive discussions around what we all know are very difficult situations and how we all process them.

These cases can linger with all involved, and sometimes in unexpected ways. Discussing that and realising that others are having often intense reactions too, can often be helpful. Our debriefs are led by a senior physician with an interest in human factors who is very good at steering the discussion towards trying to find some sort of closure or at least forwards movement, if that makes sense.

I would encourage you and your department to consider something similar, it can be very helpful.