SEGUNDAS VÍCTIMAS EN EL SERVICIO DE URGENCIAS

Abstract

Health services carry risks associated with human error, when a situation like this presents patients, though the primary recipients, are not the only victims involved. Health workers are always  responsible to some degree for any adverse effect related to the attention or treatment of a patient, therefore recent literature has taken to calling them second victims, in order to establish strategies aimed at supporting and improving outcomes for everyone involved. This article has the objective of underlining the incidence of second victims and their impact in the emergency department both in quality and in clinical outcomes. To do this a thorough review of literature was made using MesH terms in Pubmed, and Key Words “Second Victims” and “Emergency Department”.  From this we realized that emotional angst is the most prevalent symptom secondary to adverse effects in second victims, we also learned that two of the barriers for treating this are the lack of acknowledgement and the lack of awareness about its existence. The review allowed us to conclude that bringing up awareness about second victims in the emergency department is a key point in improving quality both in patient attention and workers overall health and happiness in the workspace. Development of educational strategies, specially those performed under simulation, with focus on detection and coping mechanisms in second victims allow for better clinical practices and better clínical outcomes