Maryland Patient Safety Center

Health care providers often fail to recognize the adverse impact of the stress of work-related traumatic events on their performance. We know that unanticipated and harmful events can and do happen. At these times, otherwise steady professionals can become psychologically or emotionally devastated “second victims,” who could use prompt support from peers. Most hospitals and other health care facilities, however, do not have a support system in place, and without support, caregivers experience reduced productivity, increased self-doubt and, in some cases, long-term depression. Based on the RISE (Resilience In Stressful Events) curriculum created by Johns Hopkins Medicine, Caring for the Caregiver: Implementing RISE is a training program that teaches you how to set up a peer-to-peer support program in your hospital and how to teach a multi-disciplinary team of hospital volunteers how to respond and support a team member involved in an unanticipated patient event, stressful situation, or patient-related injury.