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
. 2025 Jul 2:12:23821205251340434.
doi: 10.1177/23821205251340434. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.

Prevalence of Second Victim Experiences in a Cohort of Healthcare Learners and the Impact on Their Well-Being

Vanessa E Torbenson  1 , Kirsten A Riggan  2 , Cynthia M Stonnington  3 , Lily Huang  4 , Abd Moain Abu Dabrh  5 , Adam I Perlman  5 , Tyler F Vadeboncoeur  6 , Megan A Allyse  1   2   4 , Robyn E Finney  7 , Enid Y Rivera-Chiauzzi  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Second Victim Experiences in a Cohort of Healthcare Learners and the Impact on Their Well-Being

Vanessa E Torbenson et al. J Med Educ Curric Dev. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study identified the prevalence of second victim experience (SVE) in a multidisciplinary sample of healthcare learners and explored personal experiences of trauma and desired forms of support following traumatic patient care events or situations.

Method: We used the validated SVE Support Tool-Revised and the Physician Well-Being Index (PWBI) to query healthcare learners at a large academic health system across the institution's medical, graduate medical education, and health sciences schools. The survey was open to all healthcare learners from April 8th, 2022 to May 30th, 2022. Here, we report on an analysis of respondents' fixed responses describing the prevalence and characteristics of SVE.

Results: Of 2298 potential respondents, 206 answered at least one question (9.0% response rate). Of the 206 respondents, 205 answered questions inquiring if they had been a part of a stressful or traumatic patient care event or situation and 54.1% (111/205) answered in the affirmative. Of this group, 49.5% (51/103) reported feeling like a second victim (SV). The average PWBI of the exposed group was significantly higher (worse well-being) than the nonexposed group (3.4 vs 2.6, P = .0009). The most common forms of desired support for those exposed to a traumatic event and felt like an SV was conversation with peers 95.3% (41/43), family 81.4% (35/43), and a supervisor or manager 67.4% (29/43).

Conclusion: Findings suggest that many healthcare learners experience SVE and would benefit from connection to desired support strategies. Strategies to mitigate the impact of SVE on professional self-efficacy should be considered by education administrators. We present strategies from the literature and our institution that may be replicated for early identification and support of learners with SVE.

Keywords: SVEST; adverse patient outcomes; healthcare learners; peer support; second victim; trainees.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Busch IM, Moretti F, Purgato M, Barbui C, Wu AW, Rimondini M. Dealing with adverse events: a meta-analysis on second victims’ coping strategies. J Patient Saf. 2020;16(2):e51–e60. doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000661 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wu AW. Medical error: the second victim. The doctor who makes the mistake needs help too. BMJ 2000;320(7237):726–727. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7237.726 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Margulies SL, Benham J, Liebermann J, Amdur R, Gaba N, Keller J. Adverse events in obstetrics: impacts on providers and staff of maternity care. Cureus. 2020;12(1):e6732. doi: 10.7759/cureus.6732 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rassin M, Kanti T, Silner D. Chronology of medication errors by nurses: accumulation of stresses and PTSD symptoms. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2005;26(8):873–886. doi: 10.1080/01612840500184566 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tumelty ME. The second victim: a contested term? J Patient Saf. 2021;17(8):e1488–e1493. doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000558 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources