More sentinel events, or patient safety events that can result in harm or death of patients, are reported by hospitals than in other settings, and 7 percent of all reported sentinel events occur in ASCs or other ambulatory settings, according to The Joint Commission.
Reporting sentinel events is voluntary, and the data shows that the higher proportion of sentinel events in ASCs and ambulatory settings means there were more reported from those settings, not that they occur more frequently there.
For hospitals and other ambulatory care settings, wrong site events and unintended foreign object retention were the most frequent sentinel events. Wrong site events occurred most often in orthopedics, dentistry and ophthalmology.
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