RESEARCH_FILE
Albert W. Wu
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Known for:Coining the 'second victim' construct in 2000 — naming the psychological injury clinicians sustain after adverse patient events as a legitimate occupational harm requiring systemic support
Key findings
- 2000
In a BMJ editorial, Wu described clinicians involved in adverse patient events as 'second victims' — arguing that guilt, self-doubt, insomnia, and intrusive replays are real occupational injuries that the healthcare system routinely fails to acknowledge or support, and that the silence around them compounds the harm. Medical error: the second victim ↗
Research areas
Related old scripts
When You Carry the Verdict Alone: Second Victim After ReviewWhen a Patient's Thank-You Card Feels Meant for Someone ElseI'm Not the Same Player Since the Injury — Testing the BeliefDebt as failure: Breaking the adult shame spiralIt wasn't that bad — I'm making it into something: when you downplay your own hurt