Nurses and nursing students as second victims: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: Second victim describes the impact on health care professionals after an error causing preventable patient harm. However, to date, the impact of making errors in practice by nurses and/or nursing students is unclear.

Purpose: To describe and understand what is known about nurses and nursing students as second victims.

Methods: A scoping review was completed using three databases: CINAHL, Medline, and Proquest for the period between 2010 and 2022. A total of 23 papers underwent thematic analysis.

Discussion: Three themes were identified: (a) Psychological distress and symptomatology, (b) Coping-response/reactions to errors, and (c) Seeking support and understanding.

Conclusion: Nurses and nursing students' well-being and productivity levels can be negatively affected by inadequate team and organisational support. To improve team functioning, appropriate support mechanisms must be implemented to assist nurses who experience significant distress after making errors. Nursing leadership should prioritise improving support programs, assessing workload allocation, and increasing awareness amongst leaders of the potential benefits of providing support to second victims.

Keywords: Coping; Error; Nurse; Patient safety; Second victim; Support.