Incident/Sentinel Event Reporting
An ‘incident" is any occurrence that has produced an actual, potential, or perceived injury, or any practice, situation, premise, or product defect that in the observer’s opinion, may produce an injury if left uncorrected.
A "sentinel event" is defined as an event that meets one of the following criteria:
The event has resulted in an unanticipated death or major permanent loss of function, not related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying condition;
The event is one of the following:
- • Suicide of patient in a setting where the patient receives around-the-clock care (e.g., hospital);
- • Infant abduction;
- • Rape;
- • Hemolytic transfusion reaction involving administration of blood or blood products having major blood group incompatibilities;
- • Surgery on wrong patient or wrong body part;
- • Removal of foreign objects remaining from a surgical procedure;
- • Brain or spinal damage.
Immediately following an incident/sentinel event involving a patient, a preprinted Shands HealthCare Incident Report form should be completed. If an incident appears to meet the definition of a sentinel event, a report shall be made by phone immediately to the Self-Insurance Program/Risk Management Office at 265-8028, with the written report to follow the normal routing. The attending physician must be appraised of all incidents immediately. In addition, Dr. N. Gravenstein should be verbally notified of all details of the incident when the incident report is filed. No copies of this report are to be retained in the department files; if additional information is needed it will be requested by Insurance Trust Fund Office.
If the incident involves an injury, e.g., the loosening of teeth during intubation, the amount of compensation the patient receives is determined by the Insurance Trust Fund Office. Advise the patient that he will be contacted by a representative from that office, and that you do not have the authority to determine the compensation.
Incident Reports are not to be used for employee injuries.
Incident reports shall be completed and hand delivered to the risk management designee within three business days.
