New sentinel event data available for first 6 months of 2023

The Joint Commission has released its Sentinel Event Data on serious adverse events from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2023. A sentinel event is a patient safety event that results in death, permanent harm or severe temporary harm. Sentinel events are debilitating to both patients and healthcare providers involved in the event. 

The Joint Commission reviewed 720 sentinel events from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2023. The most prevalent sentinel event types were: 

• Falls (47%)
• Unintended retention of foreign object (9%)
• Assault/rape/sexual assault/homicide (8%)
• Wrong surgery (8%)
• Suicide (5%)
• Delay in treatment (5%)

Most reported sentinel events occurred in a hospital (88%). Of all the sentinel events, 18% were associated with patient death, 63% with severe temporary harm and 7% with permanent harm.

Reporting sentinel events to The Joint Commission is a voluntary process, so epidemiological inferences are not reliable, and no conclusions should be drawn about the actual relative frequency of events or trends in events over time.

Read the full sentinel event data summary.