DHSV to participate in error logging

The Draft Sentinel Event Program Annual Report 2004/05, published by the Department of Human Services, contains a recommendation that Dental Health Services Victoria and private health services should participate in reporting sentinel events (medical errors) in future.

According to the Report's Foreword, "The focus of the sentinel event program is to identify system and process issues which impact on the safe delivery of patient care. It enables health services to critically analyse and identify how these issues can be addressed and assist in sharing the lessons across the Victorian health system and beyond".

To date this program has focussed on public hospitals, with guidelines such as "correct patient, correct site, correct procedure" resulting from analysis of the root causes of medical errors. The possible extension of the program to dental services seems likely to initiate a new emphasis on quality assurance.