Needles

Never Events

In healthcare, Never Events always seem to occur. The cost to society in terms of patients harmed, lives lost, and dollars spent is staggering. In 2002, the NQF created an initial list of 27 adverse events considered to be Never Events; over recent years, additional event types have been added. Events are grouped into seven categories of occurrences that should never take place: surgical events; product or device events; patient protection events; care management events; environmental events; radiologic events; and criminal events. Never Event lists were created to alert and educate healthcare professionals about these preventable and costly mistakes that should never have occurred. The goal is to find solutions to the root causes of these events and correct them. In many instances, implementation of evidenced-based guidelines, accepted best practices, and standardized communication techniques are means to correct (and avoid) these serious and needless medical errors.

In this activity, we will describe the prevalence of Never Events in healthcare and the subsequent impact on our medical community and society in general. Learners will be provided with strategies and methods that can be employed as targeted solutions to reduce the occurrence of Never Events. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: use patient safety techniques and recommendations to avoid preventable adverse patient events; assess a patient for the risk of a potential hospital fall and employ targeted solutions to create a safer patient environment to reduce the risk of a fall; and summarize strategies that can be employed to decrease healthcare-acquired infections.

Credit & MOC Details

Credit information is provided by the course provider. We recommend confirming credit eligibility with the provider or your licensing board before starting the activity.

Target Specialties

Cross-Specialty

Patient Safety & Quality Improvement

Case-based learning
Credit · Up to 2 credits
Fee · varies

Released

Apr 2, 2025
Last day to claim credit

Apr 2, 2028 1 year left

Never Events

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