Guidelines call for healthcare organizations to provide emotional support for clinicians involved in adverse events, but little is known about these organizations seek to meet this need. We surveyed U.S. members of ASHRM about the presence, features, and perceived efficacy of their organization’s provider support program. The majority reported that their organization had a support program, but features varied widely and there are substantial opportunities to improve services. Provider support programs should enhance referral mechanisms and peer support, critically appraise the role of Employee Assistance Programs, and demonstrate their value to institutional leaders.

Objective. To implement a communication-and-resolution program (CRP) in a setting in which liability insurers and health care facilities must collaborate to resolve incidents involving a facility and separately insured clinicians. Study Setting. Six hospitals and clinics and a liability insurer in Washington State. Study Design. Sites designed and implemented CRPs and contributed information about cases and operational challenges over 20 months. Data were qualitatively analyzed. Data Collection Methods. Data from interviews with personnel responsible for CRP implementation were triangulated with data on program cases collected by sites and notes recorded during meetings with sites and among project team members. Principal Findings. Sites experienced small victories in resolving particular cases and streamlining some working relationships, but they were unable to successfully implement a collaborative CRP. Barriers included the insurer's distance from the point of care, passive rather than active support from top leaders, coordinating across departments and organizations, workload, nonparticipation by some physicians, and overcoming distrust. Conclusions. Operating CRPs where multiple organizations must collaborate can be highly challenging. Success likely requires several preconditions, including preexisting trust among organizations, active leadership engagement, physicians' commitment to participate, mechanisms for quickly transmitting information to insurers, tolerance for missteps, and clear protocols for joint investigations and resolutions. Key Words. Medical liability, malpractice, patient safety, communication, medical error Early adopters of communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs), in which health care organizations communicate with patients about adverse events and their causes, use investigation findings to improve patient safety, and they proactively offer compensation where substandard care caused harm, have

Risk managers often meet with health care workers who are emotionally traumatized following adverse events. We surveyed members of the American Society for Health care Risk Management (ASHRM) about their training, experience, competence, and comfort with providing emotional support to health care workers. Although risk managers reported feeling comfortable and competent in providing support, nearly all respondents prefer to receive additional training. Risk managers who were comfortable listening to and supporting health care workers were more likely to report prior training. Health care organizations implementing second victim support programs should not rely solely on risk managers to provide support, rather engage and train interested risk managers and provide them with opportunities to practice.

National guidelines call for health care organizations to provide around-the-clock coaching for medical error disclosure. However, frontline clinicians may not always seek risk managers for coaching. As part of a demonstration project designed to improve patient safety and reduce malpractice liability, we trained multidisciplinary disclosure coaches at 8 health care organizations in Washington State. The training was highly rated by participants, although not all emerged confident in their coaching skill. This multisite intervention can serve as a model for other organizations looking to enhance existing disclosure capabilities. Success likely requires cultural change and repeated practice opportunities for coaches.

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