Adverse Event Policy Term Definition


Serious incidents, therapeutic misadventures, iatrogenic injuries, or other adverse occurrences directly associated with care or services provided. Adverse events may result from acts of commission or omission (e.g. administration of the wrong medication, failure to make a timely diagnosis or institute the appropriate therapeutic intervention, adverse reactions or negative outcomes of treatment, etc.). Some examples of adverse events include: patient falls, medication errors, procedural errors/complications, completed suicides, para-suicidal behaviors (attempts/gestures/threats), and missing patient events. An adverse event can also be categorized as either a sentinel event or near miss.

A distinction is made between an adverse outcome that is primarily related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying condition (not reviewed under the Sentinel Event Policy) and a death or major permanent loss of function that is associated with the treatment (including “recognized complications”) or lack of treatment of that condition, or otherwise not clearly and primarily related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying condition (reviewable). In determinate cases, the event will be presumed reviewable and the organization’s response will be reviewed under the Sentinel Event Policy according to the prescribed procedures and timeframes without delay for additional information such as autopsy results.