The Joint Commission 2009

Greetings everyone. The Joint Commission is making significant changes in the structure and content of their standards but the content is basically unchanged. The one exception is the added requirements under the Leadership Standard. You will need a conflict resolution policy that addresses senior leaders, governing body and leaders from the organized medical staff. You will also need a code of conduct that includes appropriate behaviors, inappropriate behaviors and disruptive behaviors. Most of you already have a foundation for those things and can in many instances update your current policies. The other additional requirement under Leadership 09 is that you assess your culture of safety and quality using a valid and reliable tool. The Joint Commission in their Executive Briefings in Chicago August 08, suggested the AHRQ questionaire that can be found at(http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/hospculture/). It is a free document. You, of course, can use any valid and reliable tool you want to but certainly makes sense to use this one. That baseline data must be completed by January 1,2009. You then determine the frequency of evaluating the culture again. I will be doing a synopsis of the most significant changes to our Partners in Readiness next week but this will let everyone know some of the actions steps you need to be taking before January 1, 2009 Have a great Labor Day Holiday and be safe. Judi

New website and blog

I will be trying out blogging with my new website. Please post a comment or question.