Sentinel Event Data Summary
The sentinel event-related data, reported to The Joint Commission from our accredited organizations, demonstrates the need of the Joint Commission and accredited health care organizations to continue to address these serious adverse events. This data also supports the importance of establishing National Patient Safety Goals and focusing our energies on addressing serious errors within health care organizations. By identifying causes, trends, settings and outcomes of sentinel events, The Joint Commission can provide critical information in the prevention of sentinel events to accredited health care organizations and the public.
Includes:
- Types of Sentinel Event
- Settings of Sentinel Events
- Sources for SE Identification
- Sentinel Event Outcomes
- Self-reported Sentinel Events by Year
- Method for Review of HCO response to Sentinel Event
The reporting of most sentinel events to The Joint Commission is voluntary and represents only a small proportion of actual events. Therefore, these data are not an epidemiologic data set and no conclusions should be drawn about the actual relative frequency of events or trends in events over time.