What is second victim syndrome?
The concept of a second victim was proposed over 20 years ago to bring
awareness to the health care professional providing care to a patient
during a safety incident. The primary victim in these incidents is the
patient or family/caregiver and deserves priority attention, having any
ill-effects managed and mitigated. The second victim is/are the health
care professional(s) engaged in the incident. In 2022, an international
group of experts created a consensus definition.
A second victim is "any health care worker, directly or indirectly
involved in an unanticipated adverse patient event, unintentional
healthcare error, or patient injury, and who becomes victimized in the
sense that they are also negatively impacted." Taking this further,
second victim syndrome (SVS) is a phenomenon such
as when a health care worker harbors feelings of personal responsibility
for unexpected patient outcomes and feels that they have failed their
patient, going so far as to discredit their own personal knowledge and
clinical skills.
APhA Emotional Support Groups for pharmacists and pharmacy personnel suffering from SVS
APhA recognizes the impact that SVS has on individual pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, student pharmacists, pharmacy residents, and other pharmacy personnel. To assist second victims, APhA offers monthly emotional support groups where you can spend some time in a safe space, with a community of like-minded pharmacy professionals. You can come to share your own personal story or just listen. Trained emotional support group peers will be facilitating these monthly sessions and can assist second victims if further insights and resources are needed.
There is no charge for attending the monthly support group sessions. Sessions will be conducted via Zoom and shall remain confidential. Please note that registration is required, and your information will only be used for the purpose of sending the invitation to the virtual meeting.
Medication errors are a leading cause of SVS
According to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error
Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP), a medication
error is defined as "any preventable event that may cause or
lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the
medication is in control of the health care professional, patient,
or consumer."
As the medication experts, pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel
ensure that the right medication reaches the right patient at the
right time at the right dose via the right route (commonly known as
the five rights. Pharmacists employ principles of medication and
patient safety to decrease the likelihood of patient safety
incidents. The World Health
Organization's Global Patient Safety Action Plan recognizes
that patient safety incidents seldom result from an error of a
single individual, but rather due to the complexity of poor design
and operation of systems, and may occur throughout the entire
medication-use system. A vast majority of patient safety incidents
can be linked to flaws in systemic, strategic, or organizational
conditions which are beyond the
control or influence of the health care professional engaged
in the incident. Health care systems are in a constant state of
improvement to prevent patient safety incidents and potential second
victims.
SVS Emotional Support Group Facilitator Training Program
In October 2024, APhA partnered with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and their YOU Matter program to provide training for 18-members to facilitate monthly APhA second victim syndrome (SVS) emotional support groups. Each of these trained peer supporters has undergone specialized stress management training, including emotional support group facilitation techniques using the recognize, respond, and refer model. Our trained supporters will conduct monthly hour-long virtual SVS emotional support group sessions using a secure online platform to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
While training has been completed for this year, if you are interested in serving as a trained facilitator in the future, please contact a member of the APhA staff at wellbeing@pharmacist.com.
Six stages of second victim recovery
- Chaos and accident response
- Intrusive reflections
- Restoring personal integrity
- Enduring the inquisition
- Obtaining emotional first aid
- Moving on
For more information on the six stages of second victim recovery please review this article