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National Patient Safety Goals- Update 2008  (Article 2)

The Joint Commission, formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, or JCAHO, annually approves and updates the National Patient Safety Goals, which help health care organizations address specific areas of concern regarding patient safety.
 

For 2008, The Joint Commission added three new goals, revised two goals and retired one goal.
 

New Goals for 2008 
  • New Goal 3E specifies that health care organizations must reduce the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy. The new 3E requirement applies to ambulatory facilities, critical access hospitals (CAH), home care, hospitals, long-term care facilities and office-based surgery. This requirement supports Goal 3, which is to improve the safety of using medication by reducing drug-related medical errors.
  • New Goal 16 states that health care organizations must improve recognition and response to changes in a patient’s condition.
  • New Goal 16A specifies that organizations select a suitable method that enables health care staff members to directly request additional assistance from a specially trained individual(s) when a patient’s condition appears to be worsening. The new 16A requirement applies to CAHs and hospitals.
The new 3E, 16 and 16A requirements have a one-year phase-in period that includes defined expectations for planning, development and testing (“milestones”) at regular intervals of 3, 6 and 9 months during 2008. The Joint Commission expects full compliance with and implementation of Goals 3E, 16 and 16A by January 2009.


Goals Revised for 2008
  • Goal 2C now also applies to long- term care facilities. Goal 2C requires applicable heath care organizations to measure and assess, and if appropriate,take action to improve the timeliness of reporting, and the timeliness of receipt by the responsible licensed caregiver, of critical test results and values.
  • Goal 7A previously mandated that health care organizations comply with the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines (www.cdc.gov/handhygiene) in an effort to reduce and prevent the spread of infections in hospitals. With the update to Goal 7A, health care organizations may now comply with either CDC or current World Health Organization hand hygiene guidelines.  (Go to www.who.int/patientsafety and search “hand hygiene.”)
One Goal Retired in 2008
  • Goal 3B, which required a health care organization to standardize and limit the number of drug concentrations used by the organization, has been “retired.” The retired status indicates that the requirement was formally integrated into the official accreditation standards of The Joint Commission.
For a complete list of the 2008 National Patient Safety Goals, visit Patient Safety.For more information or to submit aquestion, call the Standards Interpretation  Group at 1-630-792-5900 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Central Time. All telephone inquiries will be responded to within eight business hours, not including weekends and holidays. Or, submit your question online.
 

  
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Created: December 17, 2007