title: Becoming a "second victim" in health care: Pathway of recovery after adverse event.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The healthcare worker involved in an unanticipated adverse patient event can become second victim. These workers suffer physically and psycho-socially and try to overcome the post-event emotional stress by obtaining emotional support in a variety of ways. The goal of this research was to study second victims among health care providers in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  This contribution contains the results of 33 interviews of nurses, physicians and other healthcare workers. After institutional approval, the semi-structured interview, composed of 25 questions, was translated from English into Italian. The audio-interviews were transcribed on paper verbatim by the interviewer. It was then verified if the interviewees experienced the six post-event stages of second victim recovery previously described within the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The interviewees described the post-event recovery stages described by literature but stages were not detailed in the exact succession order as the American study. All participants clearly remembered the adverse event and referred the physical and psycho-social symptoms. The psychological support obtained by second victims was described as poor and inefficient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The post-event recovery pathway is predictable but not always clearly respected as defined within this Italian sample. Future study of the second-victim phenomenon and desired supportive interventions is necessary to understand the experience and interventions to mitigate harm of future clinicians. Every day healthcare workers become second victims and, considering that human resources are the most important heritage of healthcare infrastructures, after an adverse event it is very important to execute valid interventional programs to support and train these workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy. Electronic address: cml.rinaldi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leigheb
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services and Nursing Research, School of Public Health, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanhaecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Donnarumma
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panella
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007558:Italy; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000523:psychology*; D008880:Midwifery; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D061214:Patient Safety; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D000067250:Psychiatric Rehabilitation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000072858:Psychosocial Support Systems; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: Adverse events; Angustia emocional; Emotional distress; Eventos adversos; Patient safety; Programas de apoyo; Second victim; Segunda víctima; Seguridad del paciente; Support program