TY - THES ID - 135294338 TI - Second victim support structures in anesthesia: a cross-sectional survey in Belgian anesthesiologists AU - Nijs, Kristof AU - Vanhaecht, Kris AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Geneeskunde. Opleiding Master in het management en het beleid van de gezondheidszorg (Leuven) PY - 2020 PB - Leuven KU Leuven. Faculteit Geneeskunde DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:135294338 AB - Background: Anesthesiologist are prone to patient safety situations after which second victim symptoms can occur. In international literature, a majority of second victims indicated that they were emotionally affected in the aftermath of a patient safety incident and received little institutional support after these second victim events. Objective: To determine the current support structure after adverse events and second victim symptoms in anesthesia in Belgium. Design and method: Observational cross-sectional survey. Belgian anesthesiologists and anesthesiologists in training were contacted through e-mail from May 27th 2020 until July 15th 2020. Results: In total 456 participants completed the online survey. 73.68% (n=336) of the participants encountered a patient safety incident (PSI) during the last year of their medical practice. 81.9% (n=368) of respondents answered that they do discuss PSI with their colleagues. 19.1% (n=88) admit that PSI are never discussed in their department. 15.35% of participants (n=70) experienced or thought that the culture is negative during these PSI discussion. Anesthesiologist who encountered a PSI in the last years scored the support of their anesthesia department a mean score of 1.59 (ranging from -10 to +10). A significant correlation was found between the culture during the morbidity and mortality meetings, the support after PSI and the perceived quality of the anesthesia department. Conclusion: Of the participating anesthesiologist in Belgium, 80.87% discuss some PSI and 18.02% discuss all PSI as a normal part of their staff functioning with an experienced positive culture in 84.65% during these meetings. Psychological safety within the anesthesiology departments is globally good, however can be optimized. To optimize second victim support in anesthesia further investigations will be necessary in the future. Clinical relevance: Being a second victim can have significant impact on healthcare workers. Literature is unanimous on the importance to offer support for second victims in healthcare. ER -