Second Victim Experience in Last Year Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Objectives: Patient safety incidents and medical errors are inevitable components during the medical career.Recent studies have suggested that medical students may also experience patient safety incidents.The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of the second victim experience in last year medical students. Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, from January to May 2023.Last year medical students were included in the study.A total of four institutions were contacted.Last year medical students were asked to fill the Turkishsecond victim syndrome experience and support tool (T-SVEST) questionnaire.Results: A total of 334 last year medical students were included in the study.Among the participants, 59.6% (n=199) reported to have experienced a patient safety incident (PSI), while 40.4% (n=135) did not experienced a PSI.Among participants who were involved in a PSI, only 28.8% felt very or extremely affected by the event, respectively 21.1% and 7.6%; 32.1% (n=64) felt moderately affected from the event whereas 15.1% (n=30) did not feel affected by the event at all.The mean score was 2.93 [standard deviation (SD): 1.13].The most current department where the students experienced a PSI was the emergency department followed by general surgery, internal medicine and pediatric departments.The mean score for the T-SVEST for the sample size was 2.84 (SD=0.63). Conclusion:Second victim experience among last year medical students remains unexplored.Therefore, medical education should allocate time to raise awareness of this phenomenon among students to prevent it.