Early action advisable to prepare for new alarm safety standards
Walk into any patient care unit—whether preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative—and you will hear numerous alarm signals. Some are signaling a medical necessity, but many are false alarm noises that do not require action. Health care workers can hear several hundred alarm signals per patient per day, which may cause alarm…
Joint project targets prevention for colorectal surgical infections
Seven hospitals working with the Joint Commission and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) on a 2-year project to reduce colorectal surgical site infections (SSIs) have saved more than $3.7 million by avoiding an estimated 135 SSIs, the commission announced in November 2012. The commission is pilot testing the approach…
Tips, lessons from a recent Joint Commission survey
What’s the Joint Commission looking for when it surveys departments where surgery and other invasive procedures are performed? Tips, observations, and lessons were gleaned from a recent 5-day Joint Commission survey by John R. Rosing, MHA, FACHE, who was present for the survey. He consults on Joint Commission and Centers…
Joint Commission's top ten toughest standards
What’s on the Joint Commission’s list of problem standards? The top 10 scored standards didn’t change much in 2011. Five of the top 10 are Environment of Care/Life Safety issues. Here’s a look at the trouble spots as identified at the Joint Commission’s executive briefing in late 2011. Medical…
Joint Commission tools to prevent wrong surgery
Surgical teams received more ammunition in their quest to avoid wrong-site surgery when the Joint Commission’s Center for Transforming Healthcare issued its latest set of guidelines, called the Targeted Solutions Tool (TST). Released February 14, 2012, the TST is available free to Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).…
Joint Commission targets fatigue from clinicians' extended hours
In a new alert, the Joint Commission adds its voice to calls to curb fatigue from extended work days and work hours. The alert highlights evidence linking fatigue to adverse events and outlines actions organizations can take to mitigate fatigue, especially among nurses and physicians. The commission says the alert…
Core measures, accreditation to be linked
A special article on new Joint Commission expectations. By January 2012, the Joint Commission plans to raise the bar on hospital performance by using ORYX core measure data more directly in the survey process. In the 8 years since the Joint Commission launched ORYX, its performance measurement and improvement initiative,…
Joint Commission's toughest elements
Privileging (HR.02.01.03) was the toughest standard to meet for Joint Commission-accredited ambulatory care centers in the first half of 2009, with 45% of facilities surveyed out of compliance. Accreditation expert John Rosing, MHA, FACHE, comments on the elements of performance (EPs) that caused the most compliance difficulty. Rosing is with…
Universal Protocol becomes less prescriptive in its 2010 version
The Joint Commission has modified the Universal Protocol for surgical site verification once again. Having tipped toward being more prescriptive in 2009, the protocol for 2010 is less prescriptive. The language is clearer and more direct. The revised protocol was issued in September 2009. Some revisions were effective immediately, with…
New Joint Commission center to take on wrong-site surgery
A lot of effort has gone into preventing wrong surgery through the Joint Commission's Universal Protocol and other measures. Still, the data suggest the incidence hasn't changed very much. The Joint Commission estimates about 40 wrong surgery cases happen every week in this country. The numbers are projected from Minnesota…
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