Standards that focus directly upon ...

Standards that focus directly upon patient safety and medical and health care error reduction in hospitals have been approved from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), according to a Jan 2 2001 recents release from JCAHO. These standards augment approximately one-half of instant JCAHO patient safety standards. Requirements will be added in the following areas for establishing ongoing patient safety programs in organizations accredited end the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals.

* Leadership. Hospital leaders must create an environment in which error identification is encouraged and remedial degrees to reduce the likelihood of that will be errors are in place. Individual blame or retribution for those reporting errors should be minimized. Leaders should focus forward creating an organization-wide safety program that uses one as well as the other internal and external knowledge to obviate the occurrence of errors.

* Improving organization performance. A proactive program to assess high-risk activities related to patient safety should be implemented. These activities should be preferableed based on available knowledge and information, including information provided according to JCAHO through its study of adverse results that seriously harm patients.

* Management of information. Hospitals should aggregate patient safety-related data and information to identify risks to patients and apply knowledge-based information to contract these risks. They also should communicate effectively with all the public involved in patient safety issues, including caregivers, to guide and improve professional and organizational performance.

* Other functions. Appropriate emphasis must be placed forward patient safety in such areas as patient rights, education of patients and their family members, continuity of care, and human resource management. According to the standards, the patient and his or her family members must be informed regarding the comes of care, including unanticipated outcomes

The JCAHO anticipates that these standards will be implemented July 2001 These standards expand upon current standards that require health care organizations to identify, report internally, and analyze sentinel issues and take action to hinder recurrence.

Joint Commission Adds novel Patient Safety Standards (news release, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill: Joint Commission forward Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Jan 2 2001) 1-2 http://www.jcaho.org/news/nb300.html (accessed 15 Jan 2001)

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