Professor Sandra C. Buttigieg, Head of Department of Health Systems Management & Leadership, Faculty of Health Sciences and WG4 co-leader of the COST Action 19113 ERNST - European Researchers Network Working on Second Victims has participated as a trainer in a training school which involved experts, health professionals, researchers and students.
The 3-day training school included i) Explanation of what the second victim phenomenon is, with an introduction to the training manual ii)Exploring practical cases of healthcare workforce supporting interventions worldwide and iii) Exploring practical cases, lessons learnt and recommendations.
When an adverse event in healthcare delivery occurs, there is a domino effect with healthcare professionals (named second victims of these events) suffering from the knowledge of having harmed their patients (first victims). European studies indicate that around 72% of health care providers in hospitals and 62% in primary care reported having suffered the second victim experience in the previous five years. An alarming 86% of these professionals reported that they received no counselling and 56% no institutional support. Of these, 24% required time off work and 25% transferred to a different department/centre.
