Second victim phenomenon after patient safety incidents among Korean nursing students: A cross-sectional study

Perfectionism in the medical field turns healthcare professionals into second victims of patient safety incidents. They suffer physically and psychologically, which makes them consider changing occupations. Nursing students may also have similar negative experiences during clinical practice.

To describe the second victim phenomenon among nursing students after patient safety incidents during their clinical practice.

A descriptive cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire.

Fourth-year nursing students (n = 354) who encountered patient safety incidents directly or indirectly during clinical practice. Participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling methods using personal contacts, professional networks, and online platforms.

The questionnaire addressed the characteristics of patient safety incidents, and physical and psychological responses after the most significant patient safety incident. Descriptive statistics and a chi-square test were performed for data analysis.

Of the participants, 22.6% were directly involved in patient safety incidents and 77.4% had indirectly encountered patient safety incidents, such as witnessing incidents with colleagues or other healthcare professionals. After patient safety incidents, of those, 67.8% experienced shock at the time of the incident, 47.2% feared experiencing a similar incident, and 28.2% were still affected although time had passed. Additionally, 26.3% reported experiencing long-term embitterment; of them, 7.3% were experiencing severe embitterment. Furthermore, 31.9% and 27.1% of the students experienced sleeping and eating difficulties, respectively, and these rates were higher when incidents were encountered directly rather than indirectly.

Nursing students may become second victims of patient safety incidents during clinical practice. Therefore, nursing education institutions need to develop comprehensive support strategies to help nursing students cope with experiencing the second victim phenomenon.