Increased Risk of Burnout for Physicians and Nurses Involved in a Patient Safety Incident

Human errors occur everywhere, including in health care. Not only the patient, but also the involved health professional is affected (ie, the "second victim").

To investigate the prevalence of health care professionals being personally involved in a patient safety incident (PSI), as well as the relationship of involvement and degree of harm with problematic medication use, excessive alcohol consumption, risk of burnout, work-home interference (WHI), and turnover intentions.

Multilevel path analyses were conducted to analyze cross-sectional survey data from 37 Belgian hospitals.

A total of 5788 nurses (79.4%) and physicians (20.6%) in 26 acute and 11 psychiatric hospitals were included.

"Involvement in a patient safety incident during the prior 6 months," "degree of harm," and 5 outcomes were measured using self-report scales.

Nine percent of the total sample had been involved in a PSI during the prior 6 months. Involvement in a PSI was related to a greater risk of burnout (β=0.40, OR=2.07), to problematic medication use (β=0.33, OR=1.84), to greater WHI (β=0.24), and to more turnover intentions (β=0.22). Harm to the patient was a predictor of problematic medication use (β=0.14, OR=1.56), risk of burnout (β=0.16, OR=1.62), and WHI (β=0.19).

Second victims experience significant negative outcomes in the aftermath of a PSI. An appropriate organizational response should be provided to mitigate the negative effects.