2006 Patient Safety Goals include labeling of meds
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has announced the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs, with new requirements for safely handing off patients from one caregiver to another.
Among the major additions to the safety goals is a new requirement in all of the programs that hand-offs of patients between caregivers be standardized, with particular attention to assuring the opportunity for asking and responding to questions. This requirement is part of the Goal: "Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers."
In addition, a new requirement for all types of accredited organizations that provide surgical or other invasive services specifies that all medications, medication containers, and other solutions used in perioperative settings are to be labeled. This requirement is part of the Goal: "Improve the safety of using medications."
New Goals in other selected programs address the prevention of pressure ulcers and encourage the active involvement of patients and their families in the patient’s care as a patient safety strategy. (The full text of the 2006 Goals and Requirements is posted on the Joint Commission web site at www.jcaho.org.) Compliance with the requirements or alternatives judged to be acceptable is a condition of continuing accreditation or certification for Joint Commission-accredited or certified organizations and programs.
As in past years, the development and annual updating of the National Patient Safety Goals and Requirements was overseen by an expert panel that includes widely recognized patient safety experts as well as nurses, physicians, pharmacists, risk managers, and other professionals who have hands-on experience in addressing patient safety issues in a wide variety of health care settings. Each year, the Sentinel Event Advisory Group works with the Joint Commission to undertake a systematic review of the literature and available databases to identify candidate new Goals and Requirements. Following a solicitation of input from practitioners, provider organizations, purchasers, consumer groups, and other parties of interest, the Advisory Group determines the highest-priority Goals and Requirements and makes its recommendations to the Joint Commission.
Some old requirements now deleted
To maintain the focus of accredited organizations on the most critical patient safety issues, the Sentinel Event Advisory Group also recommends the retirement of selected Goals and
Requirements each year. The following requirements will be retired for all applicable accreditation programs in 2006:
- The requirement to remove concentrated electrolytes (including but not limited to potassium chloride, potassium phosphate, sodium chloride greater than 0.9%) from patient care units. This requirement will continue to exist in relevant accreditation manuals.
- The requirement to ensure free-flow protection on all general use and patient-controlled analgesia intravenous infusion pumps used in an organization. Compliance with this requirement has been greater than 99%, and equipment manufacturing and availability issues for all health care setting have been satisfactorily resolved.
The Board of Commissioners also affirmed the six existing do-not-use abbreviations that constitute a single requirement under the Goal: "Improve
the effectiveness of communications among caregivers," but acted to delete a related stipulation that each organization also identify an additional three organization-specific do-not-use abbreviations that have been integral to this Requirement
as well.
Failure to substantially eliminate the utilization of do-not-use abbreviations in medication orders remains — at 27% — one of the most frequent noncompliance findings during Joint Commission surveys.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has announced the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs, with new requirements for safely handing off patients from one caregiver to another.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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