NQF updates serious reportable events
The National Quality Forum (NQF) board has approved an updated list of 29 serious reportable events (SREs). Of those outlined in its report, titled Serious Reportable Events in Healthcare—2011 Update, 25 are renewed from the NQF’s 2006 report, and four are new events.
Serious reportable events are defined by the organization as “unambiguous, largely preventable and serious, as well as adverse, indicative of a problem in the healthcare setting’s safety systems, or important for public credibility or public accountability.” Types of SREs include surgical or invasive procedure events, product or device events, patient protection events, care management events, environmental events, radiologic events and potential criminal events.
Examples of SREs include: wrong-site surgery, stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers acquired post-admission, patient falls or serious medication errors, according to NQF. The four new SREs outlined in the 2011 report are as follows:
NQF published its first report on SREs in 2002, which identified 27 adverse events occurring in hospitals. The organization updated that report in 2006 and subsequently, once again this year. The product is an ongoing effort to enable healthcare quality and safety improvement through collaboration of the healthcare industry to find and correct unsafe conditions, according to the organization.
The purpose of the new update, according to the forum, is to keep the list of SREs up to date, ensure that events remain appropriate for public accountability, and to provide guidance to those just beginning to report events. For the recent list, the board reviewed each SRE in terms of applicability to four settings of care: hospitals, outpatient or office-based surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities and ambulatory practice settings. The 2011 report will become part of a group of endorsed standards that specifically address the National Priorities Partnership focus on safety, according to NQF.
More information about the NQF 2011 SREs can be found here. NQF’s report is open for a 30-day public appeals process ending July 7.
Serious reportable events are defined by the organization as “unambiguous, largely preventable and serious, as well as adverse, indicative of a problem in the healthcare setting’s safety systems, or important for public credibility or public accountability.” Types of SREs include surgical or invasive procedure events, product or device events, patient protection events, care management events, environmental events, radiologic events and potential criminal events.
Examples of SREs include: wrong-site surgery, stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers acquired post-admission, patient falls or serious medication errors, according to NQF. The four new SREs outlined in the 2011 report are as follows:
- Death or serious injury of a neonatal associated with labor or delivery in low-risk pregnancy.
- Patient death or serious injury resulting from the irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen.
- Patient death or serious injury resulting from failure to follow up or communicate laboratory, pathology or radiology test results.
- Death or serious injury of a patient or staff associated with the introduction of a metallic object into the MRI area.
NQF published its first report on SREs in 2002, which identified 27 adverse events occurring in hospitals. The organization updated that report in 2006 and subsequently, once again this year. The product is an ongoing effort to enable healthcare quality and safety improvement through collaboration of the healthcare industry to find and correct unsafe conditions, according to the organization.
The purpose of the new update, according to the forum, is to keep the list of SREs up to date, ensure that events remain appropriate for public accountability, and to provide guidance to those just beginning to report events. For the recent list, the board reviewed each SRE in terms of applicability to four settings of care: hospitals, outpatient or office-based surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities and ambulatory practice settings. The 2011 report will become part of a group of endorsed standards that specifically address the National Priorities Partnership focus on safety, according to NQF.
More information about the NQF 2011 SREs can be found here. NQF’s report is open for a 30-day public appeals process ending July 7.