When We Make Errors and Do Harm: A Narrative Review of Second Victim Syndrome and Implications for Neuro-Ophthalmologists
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In the aftermath of an adverse event, the first priority is to provide care for the patient, known as the first victim . However, the experiences of healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in these events, known as "second victims", have been largely overlooked. This review aims to consolidate existing knowledge on second victim syndrome (SVS), explore its unique implications for neuro-ophthalmologists, and suggest support strategies to increase awareness and meet the needs of affected colleagues. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted using PubMed, analyzing peer-reviewed articles and reports on SVS across medical specialties. The review focused on the prevalence, risk factors, outcomes, and strategies for addressing SVS at both the individual and system-wide levels. RESULTS: SVS is alarmingly prevalent among HCPs, with estimates ranging from 10% to 43%, and nearly half of all HCPs are expected to experience SVS at least once in their careers. Although direct evidence is lacking, neuro-ophthalmologists may be particularly vulnerable due to the complexity of their patients, frequent diagnostic challenges, and the risk of poor outcomes. Effective coping strategies include peer support at the institutional level, with an urgent need for healthcare systems to transition toward a "Just Culture" that fosters openness and collective learning. CONCLUSIONS: Neuro-ophthalmologists are likely among several specialty fields suffering in silence following medical errors. To reduce these errors and optimize patient care, we must focus on enhancing support for the physicians involved. Sustainable improvements in healthcare require both targeted clinician support and comprehensive system-level changes to foster resilience and improve quality of care. Key efforts should include formal peer support programs, targeted educational initiatives, and a deliberate shift toward a "Just Culture." These initiatives are essential for fostering clinician resilience, promoting effective recovery, and ultimately improving the broader healthcare system and quality of care.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".