Joint Commission: Sentinel event data summary

Editor's Note

The Joint Commission summarizes sentinel event-related data reported from accredited organizations quarterly and annually.

The data (from 2004 through 3Q 2015) demonstrate the need for the Joint Commission and accredited healthcare organizations to continue to address these serious adverse events, the Joint Commission says.

Surgery-related events in the summary include:

• Anesthesia-related events: 2 in 2015 vs 6 in 2014
• Op/postop complications: 56 in 2015 vs 52 in 2014
• Unintended retention of a foreign body: 85 in 2015 vs 112 in 2014
• Wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure: 92 in 2015 vs 67 in 2014.

Sentinel Event Statistics