In 2015, the Joint Commission reviewed 936 sentinel events that occurred in hospitals, ambulatory care settings and other care locations, up dramatically from the 764 events it reviewed in 2014.
The following are the top 10 sentinel events that occurred in 2015, according to the Joint Commission's most recent sentinel event data summary:
1. Unintended retention of a foreign body — 116
2. Wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure — 111
3. Fall — 95
4. Suicide — 95
5. Dialysis-related event — 76
6. Operative/post-operative complication — 76
7. Other unanticipated event (including asphyxiation, burn, choked on food, drowned or found unresponsive) — 56
8. Unassigned — 54
9. Delay in treatment — 46
10. Perinatal death/injury — 42
In 2014, the most common sentinel event was also unintended retention of a foreign body, followed by fall and suicide. See the full list from 2014 here.