There are three types of reportable events:
- An adverse event is one in which a patient experienced harm or injury due to the negative outcome of treatment or lack of treatment.
- A near-miss is a variation in process or procedure that did not affect the outcome of a patient’s treatment, but could carry a significant risk to patient care if it recurs.
- A sentinel event is an unexpected death or serious injury, and signals immediate action, investigation, and response.
Events that fall into one of these categories must be reported and documented to ensure similar occurrences do not happen again.
