Profiles of second victim symptoms and desired support strategies among Korean nurses: A latent profile analysis

To clarify second victim symptoms subgroups, explore the factors affecting profile membership and determine how desired support strategies differ between the subgroups.

A cross-sectional study using an online survey.

A total of 378 Korean staff nurses directly involved in patient safety incidents were recruited between December 2019 and February 2020. Data analyses consisted of latent profile analysis, multinomial logistic regression and analysis of variance.

Three latent profiles were identified: 'mild symptoms', 'moderate symptoms' and 'severe symptoms'. Lower organizational support and higher non-work-related support were more likely to belong to the severe symptoms' profile. Incidents that caused temporary harm to the patient were more strongly associated with an increased likelihood of belonging to the moderate and severe symptoms profiles than no-harm events. Participants with severe symptoms agreed more with the usefulness of the support strategies than other participants; the usefulness of the psychological support strategies was rated particularly high. Participants in the mild and moderate symptoms groups agreed more strongly with the usefulness of coping strategies following patient safety incidents than psychological support. The strategy that all profiles considered the most useful was having the opportunity to take time away from clinical duties.

Tailored support should be provided to nurses with factors influencing the profile membership and subgroups of second victim symptoms.

This study confirmed the need to provide organizational support to nurses as second victims and provided valuable evidence for developing support programs tailored to the subgroups of second victim symptoms.