Match the following clinical safety scenarios to their most appropriate patient safety classification.
- During preoperative verification, a nurse notices the consent form incorrectly lists a right knee arthroscopy instead of the scheduled left knee, and the error is corrected before anesthesia is administered.Near miss (Close call)
- The hospital's electronic health record interface requires physicians to scroll down a densely packed menu, a design flaw that frequently leads to selecting an adjacent, incorrect medication dose.Latent condition
- An exhausted resident ignores a computerized allergy warning and prescribes a contraindicated medication, resulting in the patient developing an anaphylactic reaction.Active failure
- A patient is administered an incompatible blood transfusion due to a mislabeling error in the blood bank, resulting in a fatal hemolytic transfusion reaction.Sentinel event
Answer
The scenarios match as follows: Preoperative verification error matches Near miss; EHR menu flaw matches Latent condition; Resident ignoring an allergy warning matches Active failure; Fatal incompatible blood transfusion matches Sentinel event.
Patient safety events are classified based on their origin, execution, and outcome. Near misses are intercepted before harm occurs. Latent conditions are systemic flaws. Active failures are frontline operator errors. Sentinel events are devastating outcomes requiring immediate regulatory reporting and a Root Cause Analysis.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Classification of Patient Safety Events
Estimated Time:1m 30s