Broker Continuing Education (CE) Practice Exam

The term that accurately describes an injury to a patient resulting from medical intervention or inaction by a health care provider, which is unrelated to the patient's underlying medical condition, is a sentinel event. Sentinel events are significant occurrences in a healthcare setting that indicate the possibility of serious harm or death to a patient. These events often prompt a thorough investigation to understand the circumstances that led to the incident and to implement measures to prevent future occurrences.

Sentinel events are particularly critical because they highlight serious deficiencies in the care process and are considered key indicators of the quality and safety of healthcare services. The identification and addressing of sentinel events play a vital role in improving patient safety.

In contrast, the other terms have different meanings: an adverse effect refers to any unfavorable or harmful result that occurs as a consequence of medical treatment, a near miss relates to situations where an error is caught before it causes harm, and an incident report is the document used to formally record an unexpected event or accident in healthcare settings.