Use of Death Cafes to Prevent Burnout in ICU Healthcare Employees
Purpose
Burnout affects a significant number of healthcare employees and leads to worsened mental health, increased job turnover, and patient safety events. Those caring for critically ill patients may be especially susceptible due to high patient mortality, long hours, and regular encounters with traumatic and ethical issues. Preliminary studies suggest that debriefing opportunities may reduce burnout through reflection on distressing patient events, enhancement of social support, and interprofessional collaboration. Death Cafés are a specific form of debriefing that focus on discussing death, dying, loss, and illness. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether biweekly Death Cafe group debriefing sessions can prevent burnout in ICU physicians and staff.
Conditions
- Burnout
- Burnout, Professional
- Burnout, Psychological
- Anxiety
- Depression
Eligibility
- Eligible Ages
- All ages
- Eligible Genders
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, or therapists working in the Intensive Care Unit and have worked for the full-time equivalent of at least 1 week in the preceding 4 weeks
Exclusion Criteria
- Not physicians, nurses, pharmacists, or therapists - Have worked less than the full-time equivalent of at least 1 week in the preceding 4 weeks
Study Design
- Phase
- N/A
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel Assignment
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None (Open Label)
Arm Groups
Arm | Description | Assigned Intervention |
---|---|---|
Experimental Death Cafe Arm |
Participants undergo biweekly Death Café sessions hosted by a trained psychotherapist for 3 months. |
|
No Intervention Control Arm |
Participants do not undergo biweekly Death Café sessions hosted by a trained psychotherapist for 3 months. |
|
More Details
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- Tulane University School of Medicine