Time Frame for Filing Incident Reports?

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In studying for NCLEX, I have come across a few questions regarding filing an incident report. I thought the rule was that a nurse had 24 hours to file a report, but some sources said this is wrong and an incident report must be filed within 48 hours of the event. Does anyone know if there is an actual written protocol for this? Thanks very much for any insight or clarification!

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

This probably won't help you, but at my facility, incident reports have to be filed within 72 hours. I'm fairly certain incident reporting forms and time frames for submitting them vary by facility.

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An article I read about this stated you must follow the policy of the facility where you work, but in general terms, it was stated that the report should be filed as soon as possible, at least by the end of the work day when the incident occurred. I have no idea what the NCLEX answer would be. This is one I would just hope does not show up on test day.

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I would think it depends on the policy of the facility. Where I work, you have 24 hours.

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filing incident reports should follow the facility policies.

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Thank you, everyone! Looks like the time frame varies from place to place and depends on facility policy rather than law. I will do as caliotter would do and just hope to not see this question on my NCLEX, lol!

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