The quality and risk nurse in the local hospital is performing a hospital survey on sentinel events.Which of the following statements would the nurse use to best describe a sentinel event?

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A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury.The Joint Commission requires all healthcare agencies to perform a root cause analysis for such events."Never events" can,but do not always,cause serious injury or death to a patient; they are mostly preventable,and should never happen in a hospital.Medicare and Medicaid provide a list of never events such as foreign objects left in patients after surgery,air embolism,administration of the wrong blood type,and severe pressure ulcers.Medicare and Medicaid look very closely at never events and will no longer pay institutions for care required to treat the effects of such errors.

The Quality and Risk Nurse in the Local Hospital Is