What do external triggers in healthcare typically include?

External triggers in healthcare often encompass benchmarks and customer feedback. This is because these triggers originate outside of the immediate clinical environment and are used to inform and guide the performance and quality of care provided by a healthcare organization.

Benchmarks serve as standard points of reference that allow healthcare organizations to evaluate their performance against established norms or targets set by industry standards. Customer feedback, such as input from patients and families, provides direct insight into the experiences and perceptions of those receiving care, which can highlight areas needing improvement or change.

In contrast, sentinel events are significant occurrences that warrant investigation to prevent future incidents, and while they trigger internal discussions, they are specifically internal to healthcare operations. Patient satisfaction surveys, while providing valuable feedback, are typically considered a form of internal evaluation rather than an external trigger; they reflect the satisfaction of the current patient population but not necessarily broader benchmarks or external feedback sources. Internal audits likewise arise from within the organization and evaluate compliance and performance against internal standards rather than leveraging external perspectives.