Not all sentinel events stem from an error, and not all errors lead to sentinel events. The Commission points out that the term sentinel event isn’t synonymous with medical error. The phrase, ‘or the risk thereof’ includes any process variation for which a recurrence would carry a significant chance of a serious adverse outcome.” Serious injury specifically includes loss of limb or function. The Joint Commission defines a sentinel event as: “an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Sentinel events are so named because they indicate the need for immediate investigation and response.
This article defines a sentinel event, explains why sentinel events may occur, and describes ways to handle them.
Many involve highly respected healthcare systems and practitioners. Sentinel events aren’t confined to substandard organizations. Since then, studies show that medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in this country, killing up to 195,000 Americans every year.ĭespite the hard work ongoing nationwide to analyze and reform healthcare systems and thus improve safety, severe errors or sentinel events still occur-and they can happen in any facility at any time. This is not a news bulletin these statistics were revealed nearly a decade ago by the Institute of Medicine in its seminal report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Each year, medical errors result in 44,000 to 98,000 deaths in the United States.