Healthcare Providers Second Victims of Medical Errors

2000 editorial penned by John Hopkins’ Dr. Albert Wu, proposed the term second victim to bring attention to the need for emotional support for doctors who are involved in a medical error. University of Kentucky's Melissa Clarkson in an editorial for //The BMJ, one of the world's oldest general medical journals said it’s time to abandon the term second victim.

When you type the phrase "victim of medical error" into your search engine, you expect to see scores of stories and images featuring patients and families whose lives have been devastated by a healthcare provider's unintentional, preventable action.

Physician�s Burnouts- Important Cause for Medical Errors
Patient safety more at risk from physician’s burnout than from unsafe healthcare settings, finds a new study.

‘Providers and institutions must break down this barrier, engaging with patients, families, and advocacy organizations to understand more broadly how everyone -- patients, families, and providers -- is affected by medical harm.’

Tweet it Now

Astonishingly, what fills the screen instead are images of anguished men and women in white coats or scrubs. That bewildering result is the apparent effect of a 2000 editorial penned by Johns Hopkins' Dr. Albert Wu, who proposed the term "second victim" in an attempt to bring attention to the need for emotional support for doctors who are involved in a medical error.

The term has been perpetuated by authors and educators and has even been extended to include healthcare organizations, which are now deemed "third victims."

Clarkson, who co-authored the editorial with three mothers whose children who died after medical errors, said that the term "subtly promotes the belief that patient harm is random, caused by bad luck, and simply not preventable."

Prevalence of Medical Errors Associated With Age-Related Hearing Loss
Failures in clinical communication are considered to be the leading cause of medical errors as older adults lose their ability to hear properly.

"This mindset is incompatible with the safety of patients and the accountability that patients and families expect from healthcare providers," they argued.

Clarkson et al stress that patient communities and their advocates do not question the need to support providers who have been involved in an incident of patient harm, but they ask the healthcare community to pause and reflect on the "second victim" moniker.

Preventing Hospital-Related Deaths Due to Medical Errors
Three recent reports on deaths due to medical error in US hospitals have estimated the figure to be greater than 200,000 deaths per year.

"Opinion is growing that [the term] is inappropriate, including among patients and healthcare professionals....even Wu has recently acknowledged concerns about its use," they wrote.

And while the "second victim" label may help providers and institutions to cope with an incident of medical harm, "it is a threat to enacting the deep cultural changes needed to achieve a patient-centered environment focused on patient safety," they added.

Most Primary Care Physicians are Reluctant to Disclose Medical Errors
Most of the primary care physicians in United States would provide only partial disclosure of a medical error.

Source-Eurekalert