Second Victim Syndrome

Class Details

Second Victim Syndrome

Second victims are health care providers who are involved in an unanticipated adverse patient event, in a medical error and/or a patient related injury and become victimized in the sense that the provider is traumatized by the event. Frequently, these individuals feel personally responsible for the patient outcome. Many feel as though they have failed the patient, second guessing their clinical skills and knowledge base.

-Scott, et al. 2009

The age of pandemic has exacerbated the frequency and impact of Second Victim Syndrome (SVS) among the very people who have worked tirelessly and heroically to care for the millions who have been ill and even died because of this traumatic global threat. Ethical decisions, moral conflict, coupled with the resulting guilt, fear, and failure of personal performance has brought to light a condition that has plagued (no pun intended) healthcare providers for years. Second Victim Syndrome is not the same as PTSD and there is help for SVS.

What You'll Learn

• Unique impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on healthcare
• Unseen dangers and typical unidentified causes, reactions, and problems
• Four causes of stress injury
• How inner conflict, moral conflict, moral injury, Second Victim Syndrome and PTSD are related – or not
• Pathway of Second Victim Syndrome
• Risk and reactions of Second Victim Syndrome impacted persons
• Three tiers of support for Second Victim Syndrome impacted persons
• Relationship of guilt, fear, and failure among Second Victim Syndrome impacted persons
• How to live courageously in a post COVID world