Nurses' second victim experience, job insecurity, and turnover intention: A latent profile analysis

Abstract

Nurses are greatly affected by patient safety incidents, but little is known about the classifications of nurses' second victim experiences and their effects on job insecurity and turnover intention. This study aimed to identify the profiles of nurses' second victim experiences, including perceived support and distress, and explore the effects of the different experiences on nurses' job insecurity and turnover intention. A convenience sample of 2000 nurses, who were directly involved in patient safety incidents within a year at 25 hospitals in 13 provinces in China, was invited to participate. The online surveys included the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool‐Chinese version, job insecurity scale, and turnover intention scale. Data were analyzed using regression and latent profile analysis to identify second‐victim nurses' different experience predictors and examine the relationships among the factors. A total of 1298 valid questionnaires were obtained. Three profiles of second victim experiences were identified. Univariate analysis demonstrated that nurses' experience, education level, hospital type, specialty, working hours, credentials, clinical ladder, type of employment, income, training on adverse events, and the type of adverse event were statistically significant ( p < 0.05) variables differentiating the three profiles. After controlling these significant variables, the multiple regression analysis showed that the higher the support and the lower the distress level of the second victim, the lower the job insecurity and turnover intention. This study highlights the significance of nurse' leader and organizational support. Nursing leaders should recognize nurses' second‐victim experiences, provide the support nurses need, and help them reduce job insecurity and turnover intention.