The Joint Commission has created National Safety Patient Goals, standards specifically aimed at reducing errors in health care. The following highlights two goals that are most relevant for physicians. Knowing these policies and consistently using the processes help ensure that patients have a safe health care experience.
Goal 2: Improve the Effectiveness of Communication Among Caregivers
- Clinicians perform a read-back of verbal orders, telephone orders and critical test results.
- Hospitals have a standardized list of approved medication abbreviations.
- Processes exist to measure and assess the timeliness of reporting critical test results.
- “Hand-off” communication to other clinicians using a standardized approach, including an opportunity to ask questions.
Goal 3: Improve the Safety of Using Medications
Hospitals must take action to reduce errors related to “sound-alike look-alike” drugs. Once a year, hospitals review all medications utilized within the hospital to identify drugs that look similar or have names that sound alike. Hospitals then take action to prevent errors from happening due to the interchange of these medications.
When medications are removed from their original packing, hospitals must make sure the medications remain appropriately labeled. This includes medications/medication containers that might be utilized on the sterile field during procedures.
Hospitals take action to reduce the likelihood of harm associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy. When patients are receiving anticoagulation therapy, they should have an individualized plan of care related to their anticoagulation therapy. This plan should include patient education related to anticoagulation therapy. Lab work should be drawn at appropriate intervals and medications adjusted accordingly. When intravenous anticoagulation therapy is underway, programmable infusion pumps should be utilized to ensure an accurate amount of the mediation is given over a prescribed timeframe. Hospitals should limit the number of medication concentrations available to help reduce errors.
For a copy of the SLCH policies related to these goals, contact Peggy Connelly, SLCH quality consultant, at 314.286.0526 or pmc3767@bjc.org.