Below are Critical Incidents in a Medical Center
- Line of duty death of a co-worker
- Serious injury to a co-worker
- Unexpected death of a co-worker
- Unexpected death of a patient
- Particularly gruesome incident
- Dismemberment and/or large loss of blood
- Severely burned patient
- Incidents involving death or serious injury/illness of a young child
- Suicide of a co-worker or a patient
- Murder/suicide
- Assaults on self or others
- Explicit threats of assault on staff
- Patient dies as a result of going AMA
- Patient dies as a result of clinical error
- Catastrophic medical equipment failure
- Working under threatening conditions including WMD (e.g. biological, nuclear, incendiary, chemical, or explosive)
- Prolonged exposure to death and dying
- Incidents with particularly strong sensory stimuli (e.g. smell of blood)
- Line of duty death such as police officer or firefighter
- Knowing the patient
- Identifying with the patient
- Patient is similar in age/appearance to you or a loved one
- Multiple fatalities within a short period of time
- Prolonged resuscitation with negative outcome
- Dealing with hysterical and demanding family members
- Any incident that has compromised or could comprise one or more person’s ability to function
Note: If you are not certain if you or an employee in your hospital or medical center has been exposed to a critical incident, you are encouraged to contact Dr. Brown for a telephone consult. He will help you assess the incident to determine what response might be appropriate.