[Second victims: Perceived support quality and its relationship with the consequences of the adverse event]

Abstract

Introduction: Second victims are health workers who have been involved in an adverse event (AE), or have been injured by physical, emotional, psychological and/or work conditions. To avoid these conditions, it is important to receive supportive measures.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the consequences of an AE on the second victims and quality support measures perceived from public and private health institutions of the Metropolitan Region of Chile during the second semester of 2018.

Materials and method: Quantitative, exploratory, descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study, convenience sample type. Through an online platform, a questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST) instrument were applied, which consists of 9dimensions related to consequences of AE and quality of perceived support.

Results: There were 301 health workers from public and private institutions, 39.2% were involved in an AE and of these, 73.0% manifested themselves in second victim; 69.1% was female sex and 45.7% work as a nursing professional. There is a negative relationship between the quality of perceived support and the psychological and occupational consequence of AE (public and private; p<0.05) and an increased risk of having serious consequences when receiving low quality of support (OR=3.8, 95% CI: 1.32-11.47).

Conclusions: It is very important to know this phenomenon and deliver adequate support measures to the second victim, in order to reduce the physical, psychological, emotional and/or work impact involved in being involved in an AE.

Keywords: Adverse events; Calidad asistencial; Eventos adversos; Patient safety; Quality assurance; SVEST; Second victims; Segundas víctimas; Seguridad del paciente.