Peer-to-peer support and the second victim syndrome

"The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone, especially those of us in health care.  Our way of practicing medicine has been changed; some would say forever. We find ourselves affected not only clinically but also emotionally.  As a result, clinicians are experiencing more stress and anxiety than ever before. These feelings are not new but have been heightened in the face of the pandemic.

Physicians are perceived as self-reliant, emotionally stoic, and pillars of the medical community. Society expects perfection from our health care system and turns to us in times of medical crisis. As clinicians, we need to recognize our humanity;  doctors are people too, with the same emotional needs as any other individual.  In fact, one could argue that medicine demands require an even greater level of emotional support than other professions."

Susan Wilson is an emergency physician and physician coach.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Peer-to-peer support and the second victim syndrome." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/peer-to-peer-support-and-the-second-victim-syndrome.html)