COST Action ERNST focuses on taking care of second victims
Patient Safety is a Priority in Europe and has improved over the years. Nevertheless, every year between 8 and 12% of the people admitted to hospitals and around 6%
of those in primary care suffer from an adverse event (AE) while receiving healthcare. Second victims are healthcare providers and caretaker involved in an unexpected adverse event, medical error or injury affecting a patient, who become victims in the sense they are traumatized by it.
Numerous studies about second victim have mainly been studied in the USA, while in Europe, the problem of medical errors has not been studied at the EU level in a systematic manner. The advancement of work on this topic has been slow and justifies the need to further understand factors leading to second victim phenomenon.