A clinical incident is an event or circumstance which could have resulted, or did result, in unintended harm to a patient. Clinical incidents in Queensland are managed according to Hospital and Health Service policies and procedures and the Patient Safety Health Service Directive.
The aim of clinical incident management is to effectively manage clinical incidents with a view to reducing preventable patient harm. This is achieved through processes that:
- Identify and treat hazards before they lead to patient harm (proactive)
- Identify when patients are harmed and promptly intervene to minimise the harm caused to a patient as a result of the incident (reactive)
- Disclose a clinical incident resulting in patient harm (proactive and reactive)
- Ensure that lessons learned from clinical incidents are communicated and applied by taking preventive actions designed to minimise the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future (proactive and reactive)
