Incident Reporting and Patient Safety

A patient safety incident is an event or circumstance that could have caused, or did cause, unnecessary patient harm. A harmful incident causes harm; a no-harm incident reaches the patient without discernible harm; and a near miss does not reach the patient. Each belongs in the organization’s safety-learning process even though the patient’s clinical needs differ. Keep four records or actions distinct. The health record communicates the patient’s assessment, care, response, and care-related communication. The organization’s occurrence form captures the safety event for local review and learning. Disclosure is the organization’s open discussion with the patient or family about what happened. A filing to a professional regulator is a separate legal or professional process whose trigger, recipient, timing, and required content depend on the province and the reporter’s role. Completing one process does not automatically complete the others. The RPN’s first accountability is patient safety. Address immediate clinical needs, make the surroundings safe, obtain assistance appropriate to the patient’s condition, and preserve relevant items according to organizational policy. Submit the occurrence form promptly to the unit manager through the employer’s...