Question

Today's Topic: Sentinel Events

For your forum we will be using the following references below to help determine if the following are sentinel events or not by apply The Joint Commission’s definition of sentinel event. For your initial post read the sentinel events PDF and educate you classmates on one of the bolded sections of the document then go through the scenarios and determine whether the events would be categorized as sentinel based on the guidelines provided in your resource/research.  

Joint Commission PDF file on Sentinel events.pdfPreview the document
Joint Commission Sentinel event web page (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Scenerios

Baby boy Brown is discharged to the Carmichael family
Mrs. Richards has extensive cardiac damage from several myocardial infarctions, along with multiple co-morbid conditions and dies during cardiac bypass surgery
Patient Smith leaves the emergency department against medical advice
Patient Thomas leaves the emergency department against medical advice and two days later commits suicide

Answer 1

Sentinel events are events that require immediate attention or we can say it as clinical indicator used to monitor and appraise the quality of care

or

Sentinel event is an adverse event in health care delivery or other service,which either leads to or has potential to lead to harmful outcomes,thereby often mandating initiation of emergency intervention or of preventive measures.

According to the Joint Commission's define the Sentinel event is an unexpected occurence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury,or the risk thereof.The "risk thereof" includes any process variation for which a recurrence would carry a significant chance of serious adverse out come.

We can determine these following statements are sentinel events or not according to Joint's Commission's :

*Baby boy Brown is discharged to the Carmichael family

Here is the Patient Protection Events (Sentinel Event) occured where the discharge of a baby to the wrong family

*Mrs.Richards has extensive cardiac damage from several myocardial infarctions,along with multiple co-morbid conditions and dies during cardiac bypass surgery

Here is surgical events (Sentinel Event) where the death of the patient during the procedure (cardiac bypass surgery)

*Patient Smith leaves the emergency department againist medical advice

Here the Patient Protection Events (Sentinel Events) where the Patient Smith leaves the emergency department against medical advice

*Patient Thomas leaves the emergency department against the mediacal advice and two days later commits suicide

Here the Patient Protection Events (Sentinel Events) where the Patient Thomas leaves the emergency department against medical advice and two days later commits suicide is called as elopement