Resuscitation is often seen as individual performance, but cardiac arrest care is ultimately a system outcome, shaped by training, communication, leadership, feedback, and the systems supporting the team. In this three-part debriefing series, I’m joined by David Hiltz as co-host, and in this first episode, Ann Doll from the Resuscitation Academy, to explore how high-performing systems turn resuscitation events into opportunities for learning and sustained improvement. We explore how structured debriefing can create a feedback loop between frontline experience and organisational improvement, and how to build a culture where learning is routine rather than optional. We also examine lessons from aviation and other high-performance environments, where debriefing, safety reporting and incident analysis turn individual experiences and near misses into organisational learning. If learning stays with one crew, the system learns very little. If it is captured, shared and translated into changes in training, processes or system design, one event can improve performance across an entire organisation. Practical resources for debriefing and resuscitation improvement: Resuscitation Academy — Ann Doll The Resuscitation Academy provides a substantial library of free, practical resources for improving cardiac arrest systems and performance. Resources include e-books, toolkits, high-performance CPR materials, T-CPR resources, CARES resources, community CPR and PAD resources, as well as a free Cardiac Arrest System Self-Assessment. ThriveIn — Bridgid Joseph ThriveIn provides healthcare consulting and educational resources focused on quality improvement, staff education, patient safety, emergency cardiovascular care and innovation. Resources also include work relating to mock codes and improving cardiac arrest response. 360 Leadership Group — John Hiltz The 360 Leadership Group provides resources and perspectives on high-performance teams, leadership, communication, preparation and debriefing, drawing heavily from the experience of former Blue Angels pilots and other high-performance environments. Structured and Supported Debriefing The Structured and Supported Debriefing Script provides a practical Gather → Analyze → Summarize approach. It includes facilitator questions designed to understand what happened, explore why it happened, identify what went well and what needs improvement, and support the team in identifying its own learning. AHRQ TeamSTEPPS — Debriefing The AHRQ TeamSTEPPS Debrief is one of the most immediately usable healthcare debriefing resources. It includes a debriefing checklist covering communication, roles, situational awareness, workload, resources, what went well and what could be improved. AHRQ also provides a short video demonstrating an emergency-department debrief. FEMA — After-Action Review The FEMA After-Action Review resources provide a more comprehensive approach to reviewing significant events. The AAR User Guide covers preparation, data collection, analysis, findings and improvement actions, alongside templates and tools for tracking whether recommended actions are completed. NASA — Crew-Centered Debriefing The NASA Guidelines for Facilitating Debriefings provide valuable insight from aviation human-factors research. The approach emphasises crew participation, self-discovery, effective questioning and facilitation rather than simply lecturing the team. This is particularly relevant to the idea that a facilitator's role is to help the team discover and articulate its own learning. NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System — CALLBACK The NASA ASRS CALLBACK provides a remarkable collection of real-world aviation lessons. Using de-identified safety reports and commentary, CALLBACK explores communication, decision-making, teamwork, human factors, and operational risk. It offers an excellent example of how individual experiences can be transformed into organisational learning.
