Background: The term second victim describes an individual in a caring environment
traumatized by exposure to clinically challenging cases and events. The second victim
experience can affect the mental health of anesthesia providers and compromise patient safety.
Literature has shown that 65-84% of anesthesia providers will experience the second victim
phenomenon at least once in their career. There is a gap between current evidence that shows the
detrimental effects the second victim phenomenon can have on an anesthesia provider and the
current awareness level of anesthesia providers on the phenomenon itself and coping strategies to
mitigate the phenomenon.
Methodology: A second victim phenomenon awareness quality improvement project seeks to
identify if an implemented education module related to second victims and available resources
for mental health support improves awareness of the second victim phenomenon.
Results: Nurse anesthesia provider and nurse anesthesia student participants had a 20% increase
in knowledge scores and an 82% increase in identifying common signs of the second victim
phenomenon from the pre-test to the post-test. Participants had a confidence level increase in
recognition of the second victim phenomenon from pre-test to post-test by 23.75%. Participants
also stated an 8.67% increase in the future use of peer support coping strategies.
Conclusion: The results from this project incorporating an educational presentation on second
victims can increase the knowledge and awareness of the second victim phenomenon and
translate into future recognition of the second victim phenomenon and the use of peer support
coping strategies in the anesthesia community.