Definitions for "Sentinel Event"
A term used by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) to describe a serious medical error, including medication errors with serious consequences, suicide, unauthorized departure, wrong-site or wrong-patient surgery, intrapartum maternal death, violent crime committed against a patient, severe patient fall, or hemolytic blood transfusion. For more information, visit the JCAHO web site.
a more serious error, which demands NOTICE
a subset of adverse events specified by the Department of Human Services (DHS)
A preventable disease, disability, untimely death or other indicator that serves as a warning signal that the quality of preventive and/or therapeutic medical care may need to be improved.
a QI that represents a significant occurrence that should be investigated
a situation or specific occurrence that may indicate someone is testing their plans or your security