Modeling of adult patient falls and the repercussions to Nursing as a second victim

OBJECTIVE: analyze the falls of adult hospitalized patients and their repercussions on the Nursing worker as the second victim. METHOD: an exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study conducted in two stages - identification of falls with moderate to severe damage and the modeling of falls using the software Functional Resonance Analysis Method; and analysis of the repercussions on the worker as the second victim by means of semi-structured interviews submitted to Content Analysis, with 21 Nursing workers. RESULTS: a total of 447 falls of adult patients were identified, 12 of which with moderate to severe damage, occurred in the absence of the companion, while using sleep inducing, hypotensive or muscle strength altering medications. The modeling identified 22 functions related to the Standard Operating Procedure, to the fall prevention protocol and to the post-event actions. Of these, eight presented variability in their execution. In the second step, the categories “The complexity of care to prevent falls” and “Feelings of the second victim” emerged. CONCLUSION: falls are complex phenomena and prevention requires involvement of the patient, family and multi-professional team. The professionals involved are second victims and experience feelings of guilt, fear, anguish and helplessness. This study can contribute to the multi-professional spirit and to the early approach to second victims.