Incident Reporting and Patient Safety

Incident reporting is a cornerstone of patient safety systems in healthcare organizations worldwide. An incident (also called an occurrence, adverse event, or safety event) is any event or circumstance that resulted in, or could have resulted in, unnecessary harm to a patient, visitor, or staff member. Incident reporting systems provide the mechanism through which healthcare workers identify, document, and communicate safety events so that organizations can analyze patterns, identify system vulnerabilities, implement corrective actions, and prevent recurrence. The practical nurse plays a critical role in incident reporting because frontline nursing staff are often the first to identify safety events and near misses during direct patient care. Understanding the terminology of patient safety is essential for accurate reporting and communication. A near miss (also called a close call or good catch) is an event that could have resulted in harm but was caught before reaching the patient. For example, a nurse preparing to administer a medication notices the wrong drug has been dispensed by pharmacy and catches the error before administration -- this is a near miss. A no-harm event is...