The Second Victim Syndrome with Dr. Haytham Kaafarani

Behind The Knife: The Surgery Podcast

Science, Health & Fitness, Medicine, Education

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You just finished a difficult case in which a complication occurred. Feelings of guilt, sadness, and anxiety are pouring over you. You can't help but think you are a terrible surgeon, maybe even a terrible person. Does this sound familiar? Complications have profound psychological impact on surgeons. Find out how one surgeon decided to do something about it by creating a peer support program. Join Jessica Millar and Patrick Georgoff as they discuss the second victim syndrome with Dr. Haytham Kaafarani (@hayfarani).

References:
- The Surgeon as the Second Victim? Results of the Boston Intraoperative Adverse Events Surgeons' Attitude (BISA) Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28093300/
- Design and Impact of a Novel Surgery-Specific Second Victim Peer Support Program: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31857209/
- When Things Go Wrong: The Surgeon as Second Victim: https://pubmed.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/30480564/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Behind the Night, the surgery podcast, relevant and engaging content designed to help you
0:12.0	dominate the day.
0:22.4	Welcome back to Behind the Night.
0:23.8	This is Patrick Georgeoff here with BTK Education Fellow, Jessica Malar.
0:28.6	Jessica, big question here for you.
0:31.0	Do you expect perfection from yourself or something close to it, perhaps?
0:35.6	I'd love to say I'm perfect, but probably at least something close to it.
0:40.7	I think probably all surgeons do, though, and to be fair, that's kind of like surgery
0:45.2	culture and kind of what we just sort of expect from one another.
0:49.2	Yeah, and for good reason, that's what we want for our patients and out of ourselves,
0:55.5	but perfection, as we all know, that's impossible.
0:59.0	For sure, complications happen.
1:01.0	Things happen that are just absolutely outside of our control, and when it does, though,
1:06.1	it really hurts.
1:07.1	You have a patient that has a poor outcome.
1:09.0	You can really take it to heart.
1:10.3	I know how bad it feels after a complication.
1:13.2	Patrick, what are some of the emotions you feel?
1:15.3	Yeah, it's the worst.
1:16.7	It honestly feels atrocious, feel guilt, sadness, certainly increased anxiety.
1:25.5	And loss of self-worth, especially as a surgeon, you spend so much time and energy,
1:33.6	and you devote yourself to the practice, and you've made so many sacrifices, and then something
	...

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