ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
North-African doctors as second victims of medical errors: a cross sectional survey.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms among physicians - A meta-analysis.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of received support on distressing experiences among nurses as second victims: the mediating role of psychological capital.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Burnout, PTSD, and Medical Error: The Medico-Legal Implications of the Mental Health Crisis Among Frontline Healthcare Professionals During COVID-19.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Repercussions of the second victim phenomenon on health care workers: Scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- Impact of Adverse Pregnancy History and Demographics on Antenatal Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of 897 Women.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- Mental health issues among critical care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic: the multinational PSYCOVID cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The impact of adverse patient events among German anesthesiologists : A cross-sectional survey on the second victim phenomenon (SeViD-X).BMC anesthesiology · 2025Article
- The second victim phenomenon´s impact in male and female healthcare workers: a scoping review.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2025Article
- The second victim phenomenon in medical education: Development of learning objectives based on the National Competency-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM).GMS journal for medical education · 2025Review
- Healthcare Students and Medical Residents as Second Victims: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPhysicians involved in medical errors (MEs) can experience loss of self-esteem and negative psychological experiences. They are called "second victims" of the ME.
aimsTo i) describe the profile, the types and the severity of MEs, and ii) explore the psychological impact on "second victims" to better understand how they cope.
methodsIt was a cross sectional retrospective study conducted from March to August 2018. All physicians working at Farhat Hached and Sahloul University hospitals were asked to complete a questionnaire about their possible MEs. The impact of MEs was evaluated using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (scoring, 0-88) (subscales ranges; intrusion, (0-32); avoidance, (0-32); hyperarousal, (0-24)). The diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was made when the total IES-R score exceeded 33. The coping strategies were evaluated using Ways of Coping Checklist Revised (WCC-R) scale (scoring, problem-focused, (10-40); emotion focused, (9-36); seeking social support, (8-32)).
resultsAmong 393 responders, 268(68.2%) reported MEs. Wrong diagnosis (40.5%), faulty treatment (34.6%), preventive errors (13.5%) and faulty communication (6.4%) were the main frequent types of MEs. The most common related causes of MEs were inexperience (47.3%) and job overload (40.2%). The physicians' median (range) score of the IES-R was 19(0-69). According to the IES-R score, the most frequent psychological impacts were median (range): intrusion, 7(0-28) and avoidance symptoms, 7(0-24). PTSD symptoms affected 23.5% of physicians. Female sex and serious MEs were identified as predictors of PTSD. On the WCC-R check list, coping was balanced between the three coping strategies median (range), problem focused, 28.5(10-40); emotion-focused, 24(9-36) and seeking social support 21(8-32).
conclusionThere is a relatively high impact of ME within these North-African university hospital physicians. Coping was balanced within different three strategies as reported worldwide. Physicians adopted more likely constructive changes than defensive ones.
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