title: Surgical debriefing: a reliable roadmap to completing the patient safety cycle.
abstract: Morbidity and mortality due to preventable medical errors are a disastrous reality in medicine. Debriefing, a process that allows individuals to discuss team performance in a constructive, supportive environment, has been linked to improved performance in various medical and surgical fields, including improvements in specific procedures, teamwork and communication, and error identification. However, the neurosurgical literature on this topic is limited. The authors review the debriefing literature in the field of medicine, with a specific emphasis on the operating room, and they report their own institutional experience with a debriefing module, from invention to pilot implementation, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The authors share the challenges and lessons learned from their quality improvement project. The field of neurosurgery would undoubtedly benefit from embracing debriefing, as its potential has been established in other medical specialties and can serve as a valuable role in immediately learning from mistakes. The authors hope that their colleagues can learn from this experience and improve their own.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, 37232, USA.
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zuckerman
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: France
authors.forename: Cain
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Susie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leming-Lee
authors.forename: Shilo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mocco
mesh_terms: D003419:Crisis Intervention; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000592:standards*; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011182:Postoperative Care; D017751:Safety Management