Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;11(4):e002004.
doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2022-002004.

Support for healthcare workers and patients after medical error through mutual healing: another step towards patient safety

Diane Louise Aubin  1 , Allison Soprovich  2 , Fabiola Diaz Carvallo  2 , Deborah Prowse  3 , Dean Eurich  2
Affiliations

Support for healthcare workers and patients after medical error through mutual healing: another step towards patient safety

Diane Louise Aubin et al. BMJ Open Qual. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Medical errors, especially those resulting in patient harm, have a negative psychological impact on patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). Healing may be promoted if both parties are able to work together and explore the effect and outcome of the event from each of their perspectives. There is little existing research in this area, even though this has the potential to improve patient safety and wellness for both HCWs and patients.

Methods: Using a patient-oriented research approach with constructive grounded theory methodology, we examined the potential for patients and HCWs to heal together after harm from a medical error. Individual interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. We conducted concurrent data collection and analysis according to grounded theory principles. With our findings, we created a framework and visual breakdown of the communication process between patients and HCWs.

Results: Our findings suggest that, after a medical error causing harm, both patients and HCWs have feelings of empathy and respect towards each other that often goes unrecognised. Barriers to communication for patients were related to their perception that HCWs did not care about them, showed no remorse or did not admit to the error. For HCWs, communication barriers were related to feelings of blame or shame, and fear of professional and legal consequences. Patients reported needing open and transparent communications to help them heal, and HCWs required leadership and peer support, including training and space to talk about the event(s).

Discussion: Our resulting framework suggests that if there was an opportunity for an open and purposeful conversation early or before increased emotional suffering, there might be an opportunity to bridge the barriers, and help patients and HCWs heal together. This, in turn, contributes to improved health quality and patient safety.

Keywords: communication; human error; medical error, measurement/epidemiology; patient participation; patient safety.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Emotional experiences of patients and healthcare workers after a medical error.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of a mutual healing conversation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Davies JM, Steinke C, Flemons WW. Fatal solution: how a healthcare system used tragedy to transform itself and redefine just culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 2022.
    1. Aubin D, King S. The healthcare environment: a perfect ecosystem for growing shame. Healthc Q 2018;20:31–6. 10.12927/hcq.2018.25426 - DOI - PubMed
    1. de Feijter JM, de Grave WS, Muijtjens AM, et al. . A comprehensive overview of medical error in hospitals using incident-reporting systems, patient complaints and chart review of inpatient deaths. PLoS One 2012;7:e31125. 10.1371/journal.pone.0031125 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Conway J, Federico F, Stewart K, et al. . Respectful management of serious clinical adverse events. 2nd edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2011.
    1. Dekker S. Second victim: error, guilt, trauma, and resilience. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, 2013.

Publication types