The Joint Commission released a list of the most frequent sentinel events last year.
The most frequent sentinel events were:
1. Unintended retention of a foreign body
2. Fall
3. Suicide
4. Other unanticipated event such as additional care or extended care
5. Delay in treatment
6. Wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong procedure
7. Operative or postoperative complication
8. Criminal event
9. Perinatal death or injury
10. Medical error
In 2013, the top sentinel event was "delay in treatment" followed by "wrong patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure."