Joint Commission urges hospitals to share successes via CSME
Editor's Note The Joint Commission is urging accredited hospitals to share their performance measure solutions in the Core Measure Solution Exchange (CSME). CSME is an interactive, online, peer-to-peer collaborative network where hospitals that have attained excellent performance on core measures, including accountability measures, can share their success stories. To date,…
Study of Ebola Preparedness Resources in U.S. Hospitals: Costs, Benefits and Challenges
The Joint Commission, Department of Health Services Research, and researchers from Rhode Island Hospital and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America are conducting a study that will provide estimates of the costs and benefits of Ebola preparedness to hospitals. For the study, a nationally representative sample of hospitals will be…
FDA, Joint Commission cite safety concerns with power morcellation
Reports about problems associated with power morcellation in gynecologic surgery led to safety warnings in November 2014 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Joint Commission. The FDA on November 24 updated its Safety Communication on the use of laparoscopic power morcellation in hysterectomies and myomectomies. The previous…
Don't err on air pressure: Joint Commission is watching
Moving quickly up the ranks of the top 10 most frequently scored standards for Joint Commission accreditation is EC.02.05.01. At the end of 2012, this standard was just barely in tenth place, with 34% of hospitals noncompliant. By the first half of 2013, it had moved to fourth place and…
Perioperative services overhaul proves effort is worth the time
Getting a zero deficiency rating on a recent Joint Commission survey and bringing sterile processing in house are 2 of many improvements made at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital over the past decade. When Frances Baldwin, MBA, RN, assistant vice president of perioperative services, joined the hospital 11 years ago, Georgetown…
South Carolina models high reliability standards through pilot program
The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) and the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare have teamed up to make the state’s healthcare highly reliable. In a joint project titled “South Carolina Safe Care Commitment,” 21 hospitals in South Carolina are learning about high reliability practices (chart, p 12). High reliability…
Targeted Solutions Tool helps banish communication barriers during surgery
Process and communication concerns led OR management at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville, to implement a Surgical Safety Process using the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare’s Targeted Solutions Tool (TST) for Wrong Site Surgery. “When we reviewed our patient safety reports, what came to the surface…
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…
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