Just recently I was invited to talk with a group of healthcare professionals who had just witnessed and participated in an emergency where there was little hope of success. Their leader recognized that at the end of the emergency the whole team needed a chance to talk, perform a ‘post-mortem’ of the event. It reminded me of the importance of being intentional to evaluate big events.
Here some questions they asked and observations they made about how they handled the situation that can help all of us evaluate an event.
Were we true to our core values and business objectives?
Did we do all we could? They answered yes.
Were we prepared? They answered yes.
Are there any regrets? No…again they felt they did all they could do.
Supervisors acknowledged the excellence of the teamwork.
Proper training led to success. All their years of training had helped them.
Proper training led to someone taking charge. When the time came someone took charge.
Many volunteered to help (even though it was not their area)
Training is crucial to being prepared.
Training led to the right person stepping up as leader of the team.
Training led to a yes answer to this question: did we do all we could do?
Training led to a yes answer to this question: do we have any regrets concerning our actions.
Do you feel it is important to do this type of 'after event' examination? Is there a formula that you follow for such an examination?