[Norwegian and Australian physicians' attitudes to adverse events]

As "second victims", doctors may find it difficult to meet patients and relatives with an open and regretting mind after adverse incidents.

In a series of six workshops 103 doctors, 46 from Australia and 57 from Norway, were included. Initially the participants completed a questionnaire about possible reactions after serious adverse events, experiences with formal complaints and legal charges, and an option to describe a personally experienced adverse event. This was followed by an interactive educational session, where prevention and management of adverse events were discussed. A descriptive analysis based on a combination of questionnaire data and notes from the discussions has been performed.

The questionnaire responses showed that Australian and Norwegian doctors mainly did agree about the most appropriate ways of responding after a serious adverse event. Subsequent discussions showed that certain issues were recurrently and similarly discussed among the participants through all the workshops. Although the majority principally did agree on an open approach, an underlying sceptical attitude emerged, partially connected to experiences of being thoughtlessly blamed by colleagues in the wisdom of hindsight. The study outlines a strategy to raise doctors' understanding of the importance of openness in order to reinforce trust in relation to all involved parties--patient, relatives, colleagues and self--after adverse events.