Ethical issues in research with second victims: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND

Second victim is the name given to the healthcare personnel-most often a nursing professional-involved with the error that led to the adverse event to a patient and who, as a result, have experienced negative psychological effects. Research with second victims has increased over the years, however concerns exist with regards to the ethical risks imposed upon these individuals.

AIM

To explore the extent to which research with second victims of adverse events in healthcare settings adhere to ethical requirements.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework and using the following databases: PUBMED, Web of Science, and SCOPUS. Original research of any study design focused on second victims and published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese in 2014-2023 were included. A critical narrative approach was used to discuss the findings.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The review followed ethical guidelines emphasizing accurate authorship attribution and truthful data reporting.

RESULTS

Fifteen studies using qualitative (

CONCLUSION

Over half of the included studies with second victims did not comply with fundamental ethical aspects, with risk to inflict respect for individual autonomy, confidentiality, and of not causing any harm to participants.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING RESEARCH

Healthcare personnel involved in adverse events are most often nursing professionals; therefore, any breach of ethics in research with this population is likely to directly affect their rights as research participants. We provide recommendations to promote better research practices with second victims towards safeguarding their rights as research participants.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.