The aftermath of serious medical incidents

Project summary

Background and methods

A lot of research has been recently instigated on how to design safer healthcare systems in order to reduce the numbers of adverse events. However, less attention has been given to date on the amelioration of adverse outcomes or injuries aspect of patient safety which refers to “the need to care for injured patients and to support the staff involved” (Vincent, 2006).  

Patients and relatives may suffer both psychically and psychologically from medically induced injuries. There is very little research on the aftermath of serious medical incidents but early findings from surgery suggest a wide range of psychological outcomes related with the experience of surgical adverse events such as higher levels of distress than people who had experienced serious accidents or bereavements, reported pain levels comparable, over a year after surgery, to untreated postoperative pain, and psychosocial adjustment worse than in patients with serious medical conditions. Further trauma can be induced to patients harmed by their treatment when the incident is not handled sensitively.  

Healthcare staff may also experience severe consequences when they are involved in serious medical incidents. A few early studies have shown profound emotional effects for doctors who are involved in adverse events such as fear, guilt, anger, embarrassment, humiliation or even anxiety and depression symptoms.  

This programme of work explores the aftermath of serious medical incidents for patients and healthcare professionals in the context of specific psychosocial theoretical frameworks (e.g. stress and coping, trauma exposure, social support). Systematic reviews, interviews and surveys will be used to answer the following research questions.

Aims

• To investigate the consequences of serious medical incidents on patients and how patients cope with such incidents.
• To investigate the consequences of serious medical incidents on healthcare staff and how staff cope with such incidents.
• To investigate optimal pathways of managing serious medical incidents to improve outcomes for patients and staff