title: Emotional impact of patient safety incidents on family physicians and their office staff.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to investigate the emotional responses and coping strategies that family physicians and their office staff reported in response to a patient safety incident.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two questions contained in a patient safety incident report developed for a study of patient safety in family practice were analyzed. The questions asked reporters to indicate their emotional response to a patient safety incident and how they coped with it. A total of 264 confidential patient safety incident reports collected from September 2007 to August 2010 were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An emotional response was reported on 82.4% of reports. Of those reports on which an emotional response was reported, a coping strategy was reported on 62.8%. The top 4 reported emotional responses were frustration (48.3%), embarrassment (31.5%), anger (12.6%), and guilt (10.1%). Physicians reported an emotional response more often than clinic staff. An emotional response was reported more often when there was a possibility of harm. Coping strategies were reported as follows: 52% talked to someone about the incident, 37.2% did nothing in response to the incident, 17.9% told the patient about the incident, and 3.6% did something else. Female physicians reported using coping strategies less often than male physicians. A coping strategy was reported more often when there was a possibility of harm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All members of the health care team report experiencing emotions related to patient safety incidents in their practice. Incidents with minor or no harm still invoked emotional responses from the providers. It is important to understand the impact that patient safety incidents have on the medical clinic as a whole.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. obeirne@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Maeve
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Beirne
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sterling
authors.forename: Luz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palacios-Derflingher
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hohman
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zwicker
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000523:psychology; D009817:Office Management; D010358:Patient Participation; D061214:Patient Safety; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000523:psychology*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support