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CGH Organises First Crisis Management Courses
Ms Johanna O'Flaherty, Certified Trainer for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Programmes
 
 

The government announced recently that it is launching a national campaign to educate the public on security issues. An important component in security is emotional readiness in a crisis. Changi General Hospital organised the first Crisis Management course to help increase awareness and to train hospital staff to be prepared during a crisis.

 

The two-day Critical Incident Stress Management course for professionals who work directly with individuals who suffer a traumatic experience was held from 2 - 3 Dec. A Crisis Management Course was also held on 4 Dec 2002 for staff who need to prepare their organisations for crises or emergencies. A total of 95 participants from healthcare organisations, family service centres, schools, airlines, Singapore Civil Defence Force, etc attended the courses which were certified by International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF).
 
Ms Johanna O'Flaherty, Certified Trainer for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Programmes, was especially invited from USA to conduct the courses. Ms O'Flaherty was directly involved in the 911 aftermath at New York, giving support to airline employees and people working at ground zero. She has a Masters Degree in Psychology and Addiction Counselling with more than 15 years experience in Airline Employee Assistance Programmes.

"The ICISF model was designed primarily to assist individuals in the aftermath of a critical incident. The uniqueness of this programme is that it involves not only medical professionals but it also involves peers from all categories eg. firefighters, police officers, emergency medical services, etc," said Ms O'Flaherty.

A critical incident is any event with sufficient impact to produce significant emotional reactions eg. mass casualty events, death or serious injuries of a co-worker, hostage situations, threatening situations, etc. Beyond physical injuries, individuals who have experienced a traumatic event suffer psychological stress related to the incident. These emotional aftershocks may appear immediately after the traumatic event, or even weeks or months later. Besides the victim, eye witnesses, paramedics or even the healthcare professionals treating the injuries may be affected by the event to varying degrees.

The model uses a three-pronged approach ie. demobilisation, defusing and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.

 

 

  

Demobilisation is a short Q&A discussion that takes place immediately after a major crisis to discuss the incident. Defusing is a shortened form of debriefing which is used with small groups who normally work together. There are three stages ie. introduction, exploration and information. Defusing has similar objectives as debriefing but does not go into the emotional impact. It is usually done if no deaths have occurred in the critical incident.

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing educates about stress, stress reactions and survival techniques. It forewarns people about the signs and symptoms that may appear in the near future. This helps to accelerate the recovery process in people who are experiencing post traumatic stress reactions.

CISD participants and Ms O'Flaherty networking at dinner after their two days training programme.

Dr Angelina Chan, Consultant Psychiatrist and Course Coordinator said, "Beyond mass casualties, healthcare professionals also face different traumatic events everyday eg. a new doctor experiencing the death of a patient for the first time, the sudden deterioration of a patient, etc. These affect their emotions but they could only deal with it in their own ways. With the trained peers, the next step is to set up a peer support programme in the hospital. The need to do this is even greater currently because not only can healthcare professionals counsel peers, they can also support trauma victims and their families."
Participants of the Crisis Management Course for Corporation held on 4 Dec 2002.