Serious reportable events within the inpatient mental health care: Impact on physicians and nurses.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of physicians and nurses involved in an adverse event within mental health.


METHODS
A quantitative, cross-sectional study was performed. Six Flemish psychiatric hospitals (Belgium) participated in this exploratory cross-sectional study. All psychiatrists and nurses working in these hospitals were invited to complete an online questionnaire in March 2013.


RESULTS
28 psychiatrists and 252 nurses completed the survey. 205 (73%) of the 280 respondents were personally involved at least once in an adverse event within their entire career. Respondents reported that the adverse event with the greatest impact was related to suicide in almost 64% of the cases. About one in eight respondents considered quitting their job because of it. Almost 18% declared that due to the impact of the event, they believed that the quality of the administered care was affected for longer than one month. Respondents stated that they received much support of colleagues (95%), the chief nurse (86%) and the partner (71%). Colleagues seemed to be most supportive in the recovery process.


CONCLUSIONS
Physicians and nurses working in inpatient mental health care may be at high risk to being confronted with an adverse event at some point in their career. The influence on health professionals involved in an adverse event on their work is particularly important in the first 4-24h. Professionals at those moments had higher likelihood to be involved in another adverse event. Institutions should seriously consider giving support almost at that time.
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
J
J
Martens
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
E
E
Van Gerven
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
K
K
Lannoy
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine, Amedeo Avogadro University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy.
M
M
Panella
Department of Psychology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
M
M
Euwema
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
W
W
Sermeus
Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, UPC KU Z.org Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
M
M
De Hert
Department of Public Health & Primary Care, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Quality Management, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: kris.vanhaecht@med.kuleuven.be.
K
K
Vanhaecht
D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D061214:Patient Safety; D012308:Risk Management / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide; D013997:Time Factors
Adverse events; Episodios adversos; Health care provider; Mental health; Médico; Patient safety; Salud mental; Second victim; Segunda víctima; Seguridad del paciente