Sentinel event statistics released for 2018

The Joint Commission reviewed a total of 801 sentinel events. The majority — 87 percent — were voluntarily self-reported by an accredited or certified organization. Sentinel events must be reviewed by the organization and are subject to review by The Joint Commission. Less than an estimated 2 percent of all sentinel events are reported to The Joint Commission. Of these, 57.7 percent (8,353 of 14,489 events) have been self-reported since 2005. 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.

Top 10 most frequently reported Sentinel Events in 2018:

• Fall – 111
• Unintended retention of a foreign body – 111
• Wrong-side surgery – 94
• Unassigned at time of report – 68
• Other unanticipated event – 59
• Suicide – 50
• Delay in treatment – 43
• Product or device events – 29
• Criminal event – 28
• Medication error – 24

The Joint Commission has the report.