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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Patient Safety and Risk

Never event

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In healthcare management, never event means: A very serious and largely preventable patient safety incident, such as surgery on the wrong body part, that should not happen if proper safety measures are followed.

In Turkish: asla olmaması gereken olay, hiç yaşanmaması gereken olay

How it is used

Used mainly in the UK and the US, where official lists define which incidents count. Typical examples are wrong-site surgery, an object left inside a patient after an operation and giving a drug by the wrong route. Every never event leads to a full investigation.

Example sentences

  1. A swab left inside a patient after surgery is classed as a never event.

  2. The hospital reported two never events last year, both in the operating theatres.

Common collocations

  • report a never event
  • never event list
  • never event investigation
  • adverse eventAn unintended event during healthcare that harms a patient and is caused by the care given rather than by the patient's illness.
  • root cause analysisA structured investigation after a serious incident that looks for the underlying system problems that allowed it to happen, not just at the person who made the mistake.
  • patient safetyThe prevention of avoidable harm to patients during care, through safe systems, clear procedures and a culture of learning from mistakes.
  • operating theatreA specially equipped room in a hospital where surgical operations are carried out; the term is often used for the whole surgical suite.

More terms: Patient Safety and Risk

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.