The Joint Commission’s newsletter reports that the Sentinel Event Data Annual Report for 2023 is now available, including a figure showing the trend of reported sentinel events by source from 2005-2023.
The Joint Commission reviewed 1,411 sentinel events from last year. The most prevalent event types identified in 2023 included:
- Falls (48%)
- Wrong surgery (8%)
- Unintended retention of foreign object (8%)
- Assault/rape/sexual assault/homicide (8%)
- Delay in treatment (6%)
- Suicide (5%)
“These event types comprised 83% of all reported sentinel events in 2023,” according to the newsletter. “The majority of these events – 96% (1,358) – were voluntarily self-reported to The Joint Commission by an accredited or certified entity. The remaining 53 sentinel events were reported either by anonymous sources, patients (or their families), or employees (current or former) of the organization.”
Read more on The Joint Commission website.
