African-American COVID-19 mortality: A sentinel event

Summary

The tragic higher COVID-19 mortality in African Americans and other racial/ethnic minorities confirms inadequate societal efforts to eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is a sentinel event, highlighting deep-rooted US healthcare failures.

The Joint Commission defines a sentinel event as an unexpected occurrence resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Conventionally identified sentinel events, such as unintended retention of foreign objects and fall-related events, are used to evaluate quality in hospital care. Similarly, disparate African Americans COVID-19 mortality reflects long-standing, unacceptable US racial/ethnic and socioeconomic CVD inequities and unmasks system failures and unacceptable care to be caught and mitigated.

Ferdinand and Nasser explore this further in their article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.