TRAVEL NURSING NEWS
A collection of nursing news for the ultimate travel nurse!

Article Date: 07/05/2007

Journal of Healthcare Management study: Joint Commission accreditation ‘key predictor’ of hospital patient safety system implementation
Joint Commission accreditation is a key predictor in the implementation of systems that promote patient safety by hospitals, according to a new study published in the May/June 2007 issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management. The study considered factors such as hospital size, management (i.e., investor-owned or not-for-profit), and rural or urban location, but found that accreditation by The Joint Commission was the most significant factor in whether the facilities engaged in actions widely recognized to improve patient safety. These patient safety initiatives include computerized physician order entry systems, computerized test results, assessment of adverse events, use of data in patient safety programs, specific patient safety policies, handling adverse event/error reporting, root cause analysis, and medication management. The study, led by Daniel R. Longo, Sc.D., of the Virginia Commonwealth School of Medicine, was based on two surveys of hospitals in Utah and Missouri that were conducted at 18-month intervals.

The new study, which follows Health Affairs articles that also called accreditation by The Joint Commission a driving force in patient safety efforts, advocates accreditation as a means for improving health care. The authors credit The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals and public reporting of accreditation findings, as well as the more than 50 percent of standards that focus on safety, for making accreditation a “facilitator in changing hospital behavior” related to patient safety.

“By incorporating real ‘teeth’ into its patient safety standards as well as into its accreditation process, The Joint Commission provides the motivation for hospitals nationwide to follow its lead. This is a public trust that The Joint Commission must keep sacred,” Robert G. Kiely, FACHE, president and chief executive officer, Middlesex Health System, Middlesex, Connecticut, writes in the “Practitioner Application” commentary that accompanies the study. For more information about the publication, go to http://www.ache.org/pubs/jhm523.cfm.

Website Address: http://www.jointcommission.org

MORE NURSING NEWS ARTICLES

TRAVEL NURSING NEWS
Read all the news you want here at Travel Nursing News!
Travel Nursing news gives you one source to find all the nursing news on-line.