What is the purpose of reporting adverse events?

• A. To minimize patient privacy breaches.
• B. To improve patient safety and provide reasonable care.
• C. To increase hospital revenue.
• D. To document staff performance reviews.

Answer: (B)

Reporting adverse events is about learning from harm to patients to prevent it from happening again. When events are documented, teams can analyze what went wrong, identify root causes or system failures, and implement changes—such as updated protocols, new safety checks, or targeted training—to reduce risk and improve the care patients receive. The aim is to enhance patient safety and ensure care meets reasonable standards.

While protecting patient privacy is important, the primary purpose of reporting is not to maximize revenue or to evaluate individual staff performance. Those areas may involve separate processes, but adverse event reporting specifically drives safety improvements and quality of care.