About Us

The RESCUE Initiative (IG19113)

The RESCUE Programme is an extension of the COST Action 19113 –ERNST Consortium (The European Researchers' Network Working on Second Victims, TheERNSTGroup), running from 2020 to 2024, whose objective was to foster discussions, exchange scientific knowledge, perspectives, and best practices related to the second victim phenomenon in health and care institutions across 31 European countries.

The aim of the RESCUE initiative is twofold:

To implement the existing Action technology to certify both individuals and systems, thereby facilitating effective interventions that support second victims and introducing a European Certification-based recognition system, named RESCUE (based on Action 19113 outcomes).
To devise a business model for the implementation of RESCUE across Europe and globally.

Secondary objectives:

To ensure that the RESCUE certification system reaches a Technology Readiness Level 8 (TRL-8) maturity level.
To certify 23% of current European second victim support interventions and involve a minimum of 30% of the peer supporters engaged in these interventions.
To increase the number of institutions implementing certified second victim support interventions, including at least two in primary care and two in nursing homes.
To develop a comprehensive business model for RESCUE's global utilization, emphasizing its expansion beyond Europe.

Working Groups (WGs)

The RESCUE team is composed of professionals from 27 countries with clinical, health, social, legal, and academic backgrounds. The activities of this multidisciplinary group of experts are organised into three working groups described below.

WG1 – RESCUE MATURITY TASKFORCE

Objective: To achieve a maturity level TRL-8 for RESCUE.

Deliverables:

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) agreement
Website
Meetings
Training materials and Guidelines
Training School
Webinars
Scientific article

WG2 – RESCUE BUSINESS PLAN

Objective: To elaborate RESCUE’s business plan.

Deliverables:

Marketing analysis report
Return on Investment (ROI)
Revenue streams Report
Podcasts and videos of RESCUE end users
Webinars

WG3 – STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND SCALING-UP

Objective: To establish alliances to ensure RESCUE's viability and sustainability while establishing international credibility.

Deliverables:

Sustainability strategy
Meetings
Agreements based on perdurable alliances
Financial sustainability

Core Group

CHAIR José Mira email Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunidad Valenciana SPAIN	VICE-CHAIR Reinhard Strametz email RheinMain University of Applied Sciences GERMANY
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION COORDINATOR Susanna Tella email LAB University of Applied Sciences - Lappeenranta FINLAND	GRANT AWARDING COORDINATOR Bojana Knežević email University Hospital Centre Zagreb CROATIA
TRAINING SCHOOL COORDINATOR Sofia Guerra-Paiva email Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, NOVA University of Lisbon PORTUGAL	TRAINING SCHOOL COORDINATOR Victoria Klemm email Hochschule RheinMain GERMANY
LEADER WG1 Eva Potura email Austrian National Public Health Institute and Austrian Second Victim Association AUSTRIA	CO-LEADER WG1 Katja Schrøder email Syddansk Universitet DENMARK
LEADER WG2 Massimiliano Panella email Università del Piemonte Orientale UPO - Novara ITALY	LEADER WG3 Paulo Sousa email National School of Public Health Universidade Nova de Lisboa PORTUGAL

RESCUE Team Group

Christina Einwoegerer email Austrian National Public Health Institute AUSTRIA	Brigitte Ettl email Austrian Network for Patient Safety AUSTRIA
Mirka Cikkelova email European Patient Safety Foundation BELGIUM	Vesna Vujic-Aleksic email The RS Agency for Certifcation, Accreditation and Quality Improvement in Health Care - Banja Luka BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
Hana Knezevic email Dom Zaravlja Zagreb Center CROATIA	Kaja Polluste email University of Tartu ESTONIA
Kathlin Vahtel email Faculty of Health Sciences - Department of Health Services Research ESTONIA	Mari Liukka email Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia FINLAND
Anu Venesoja email LAB University of Applied Sciences - Health service FINLAND	Andreas Igl email PSU-Akut e.V. GERMANY
Andreas Pitz email Hochschule Mannheim GERMANY	Mery Tumelty email University College Cork IRELAND
Deborah Avram email Bayit Balev - Health and Human services - Kfar saba ISRAEL	Jannat Bayadsi email University of Haifa ISRAEL
Mirit Cohen email University of Haifa ISRAEL	Erica Kanevsky email Bayit Balev-Aged Care Organisation subsiduary of Maccabi Health Services – Herzliya ISRAEL
Riham Matar email Bayit Balev - Health and Human services – Herzliya ISRAEL	Sophia Russotto email Università del Piemonte Orientale ITALY
Dragan Mijakoski email University in Skopje MACEDONIA	Patricia Vella Bonanno email University of Malta MALTA
Anatoliy Goncharuk email NLA Hogskolen-Hauge School of Management NORWAY	Gunnar Tschudi Bondevik email University of Bergen NORWAY
Rafaela Lopes email Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, NOVA University of Lisbon PORTUGAL	Marius I. Ungureanu email College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences - Cluj-Napoca ROMANIA
Marina Odalović email University of Belgrade SERBIA	Andrea Geckova email Comenius University in Bratislava, FSEV, Institute of Applied Psychology SLOVAKIA
Veronika Pacutova email University of Pavol Jozef Safarik, Faculty of Medicine SLOVAKIA	Ángel Cobos email San Cecilio University Hospital SPAIN
Susana Lorenzo email Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón SPAIN	Marta Macías Maroto email San Cecilio University Hospital SPAIN
Viktoriia Tkachenko email Granddent UKRAINE

Steering Commitee

Stephane Boulanger email European Patient Safety Foundation EUPSF BELGIUM	Deborah Seys email Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy BELGIUM
Kris Vanhaecht email KU Leuven - University of Leuven BELGIUM	Ricky Bitton email University of Haifa ISRAEL
Einav Srulovici email University of Haifa ISRAEL	Andrea Conti email Università del Piemonte Orientale ITALY
Sandra C Buttigieg email University of Malta – Msida MALTA	Barbara Kutryba email Qveritas Barbara Kutryba POLAND
Irene Carrillo Murcia email Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche SPAIN	Alicia Sánchez García email Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche SPAIN
Albert Wu email Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health UNITED STATES

RESCUE Members

Savka Štrbac email Public Health Institute of the Republic of Srpska - Banja Luka BOSNIA	Marcel Leppee email Gospic Primary Health Centre CROATIA
Filip Mustač email University Hospital Centre Zagreb CROATIA	Susanne Heninger email PSU-Akut e.V. GERMANY
Katerina Flora email University of Western Macedonia GREECE	Hrefna Dögg email University of Iceland ICELAND
Sumesh Sasidharan email University College Dublin IRELAND	Marie Ward email St James's Hospital IRELAND
Anat Rafaeli email Technion - Israel Institute of Technology ISRAEL	Erika Kubiliene email Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences LITHUANIA
Artiom Jacov email Ministry of Health of Republic of Moldova MOLDOVA	Alma Mulac email University of Oslo - The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences NORWAY
Michal Bedlicki email Foundation of Safety Medicine POLAND	Jesús David Cortés email Escola Nacional de Saúde Publica PORTUGAL
Marta Verissimo email Centro Hospitalar Médio Tejo PORTUGAL	Silvia Gabriela email Scoala Nationala de Sanatate Publica Management si Perfectionare in Domeniul Sanitar ROMANIA
Andrei Stefan email UBB Bábes Bolyai University Cluj Napoca ROMANIA	Alberto Benavente email San Cecilio University Hospital SPAIN
Aurora Bueno email San Cecilio University Hospital SPAIN	José Carlos Cacan email Malaga University SPAIN
Eloisa Casado email San Cecilio University Hospital SPAIN	Arantxa Libano email Autonomous University of Barcelona SPAIN
Ana María Mora email Costa del Sol Hospital SPAIN	Carola Orrego email Avedis Danabediand Foundation SPAIN
Mª Pilar Peña Astier email Family Physician. Universitas Health Center. Health Service of Aragon SPAIN	Asier Urruela email Zaragoza University SPAIN
Pinar Ayvat email Izmir Democracy University TURKEY	Ali Galip email Izmir Project Agency TURKEY
Yasemin Kiliç email Child Protection and Care Services Program - Hitit University TURKEY	Tugba Yilmaz email Marmara University TURKEY

Participating countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine, and United States.