When does a facility become aware of a reportable event?

A facility becomes aware of a reportable event when clinical personnel learn of the event. This is the crucial moment when the information enters the system, enabling appropriate action to be taken. Clinical personnel are often those who witness or become directly engaged with the event as it occurs, and their awareness is essential in initiating the reporting process.

Other stages, such as when management decides to investigate, may follow but are contingent upon that initial awareness. Similarly, while receiving a complaint from a patient can also signal an event, it is not the initial point of awareness since the event may have already occurred independently of the complaint. Lastly, the completion of an incident report is typically the documentation step that follows awareness; if clinical personnel were not aware of the event, there would be no report to complete. Thus, the moment clinical personnel learn of an event is the definitive point at which the facility recognizes the need to address the situation.