What are incidents?

What are incidents?

• A. Mistakes a patient knows about
• B. Medication allergies
• C. Equipment malfunction
• D. Staff scheduling issues

Answer: (A)

Incidents are events in patient care where something goes wrong and could harm a patient, prompting reporting and investigation to prevent recurrence. The best fit here is because it describes mistakes that a patient becomes aware of, which is often how these events are identified and documented for quality improvement. Medication allergies are not an incident themselves but a patient condition. Equipment malfunction can cause incidents, but by itself it’s a technical problem rather than a mistake the patient has noticed. Staff scheduling issues are organizational problems that don’t directly reflect a patient-care error.

Incidents are events in patient care where something goes wrong and could harm a patient, prompting reporting and investigation to prevent recurrence. The best fit here is because it describes mistakes that a patient becomes aware of, which is often how these events are identified and documented for quality improvement. Medication allergies are not an incident themselves but a patient condition. Equipment malfunction can cause incidents, but by itself it’s a technical problem rather than a mistake the patient has noticed. Staff scheduling issues are organizational problems that don’t directly reflect a patient-care error.