Analyzing Serious Reportable Events

¶ … Reportable Events Importance of Reportable Events (SREs) and How the Government is Involved An "SRE" stands for a "serious reportable event." This usually means any action/incident that involves death or irreparable damage done to a patient due to a carelessness or oversight on a heath care facility's part.

The term was first put forth by the National Quality Forum (NQF) and usually refers to events that should "never happen." All events that fall under the category of "serious reportable event" are caused by negligence, are avoidable and should never happen. SRE's or "never events" as they are commonly referred to must be reported. Over time, SRE's have become a reportable offense, with more and more states demanding that SRE's be reported. SRE's are serious occurrences that are of serious concern for physicians, healthcare facilities and the public.

Care providers are looked upon with complete confidence and regarded as the pinnacle of responsibility. The policies of any health care facility need to be transparent and more than protecting itself the focus must have aclearly identifiable and measurable reporting system. Risks and gross negligence have a basis in the less than satisfactory procedures of any health care facility. The government has made matters better by labeling SRE events as non-chargeable and hospitals are unable to gain reimbursement for such events. 2.

The 2011 Serious Reportable Events (SREs) that are the Most Important and Relevant to Me I would like to be employed in an Ambulatory Practice Setting. According to data collected in the year 2011, the following events are defined under the category of SRE's that can occur in a health care facility: Surgical or Invasive Procedural Events: such events can be categorized as any procedure that is both invasive and not in alignment with the immediate and documented consent of the patient.

The most commonly noted procedures are as follows: Endoscopies Lens implantations Lesion removals Joint injections The key to avoiding such events is making sure that all the paper-work is handy and in order. Patient identification and surgical consent forms should be kept carefully and within patient records. Procedures that are not going to require an operating room must be given extra attention to avoid SREs.

Prevention of Surgical or Invasive Procedure Events This occurrence can be diminished by guaranteeing that there is substantial variety in the specialized parts of individuals across the range of health care environments. Communications between surgical team and the patient and their family members is crucial for the avoidance of such events. All concerned surgical teams, individuals and departments should be alert to the possibilities of an SRE. The concerned personnel here are special procedures units, interventional radiology suites, endoscopy units and operating room personnel (Pataki, 2006).

Product or Device Events: these usually imply carelessness with devices and/or proper disposal or usage of biologics. An SRE related to contamination caused by drugs, devices, or biologics, irrespective of the source, falls under this category. These events usually entail the following situations: Administration of contaminated intramuscular medication like vaccines, antibiotics or pain medications that result in serious health consequences for a patient.

Infections that are caused due to contamination from a device (like syringes or scalpels), and/or drugs used normally or during an invasive procedure are also SREs. All high-risk procedures, excluding neurosurgical operations are regarded as SRE possibilities. These procedures include any.