When Nurses Become Second Victims, They Are Three Times More Likely to Quit

A new meta-analysis quantifies how “second victim” events affect nurses after adverse patient outcomes. Published in BMC Nursing, research led by Jing Liu of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, finds that nurses exposed to the phenomenon are nearly three times more likely to intend to quit and more than twice as likely to miss work. The review followed PRISMA guidelines through April 2026 and included 38 cross-sectional studies, totaling 22,241 participants for turnover intention and 14,662 for absenteeism. The pooled odds ratio for turnover intention was 2.99 (95% CI 2.81–3.18; p<0.001), while absenteeism showed a relative risk of 2.21 (95% CI 2.05–2.37). Authors report substantial heterogeneity and rated evidence quality as low.