Joint commission announces 2009 National Patient Safety Goals

Published: 06/18

ARLINGTON, VA, USA - (HealthTech Wire) - The Joint Commission has announced its 2009 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals. These Goals apply to the more than 15,000 Joint Commission-accredited and -certified healthcare organizations and programs. 

Major changes include three new requirements related to preventing deadly healthcare-associated infections due to multiple drug-resistant organisms (MDROs), central line-associated bloodstream infections and surgical site infections. These additions build on an existing Goal to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections, and recognize that patients continue to acquire preventable infections at an alarming rate within hospitals. These new infection-related requirements have a one-year phase-in period that includes defined milestones, with full implementation expected by January 1, 2010.

“The 2009 National Patient Safety Goals represent ongoing opportunities for improvement that can immediately benefit patients,” says Mark R. Chassin, MD, president, The Joint Commission. “By taking action to consistently meet the Goals, healthcare organizations can substantially improve patient safety in America.”

A revision of the requirements for the existing medication reconciliation Goal is based on feedback obtained from a Medication Reconciliation Summit convened in late 2007 and is included in the 2009 update. Other changes to the National Patient Safety Goals include a requirement to eliminate transfusion errors related to patient misidentification in hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory care facilities and office-based surgery practices. New requirements for several programs focus on engaging patients in their care regarding infection control, prevention of surgical adverse events, and the patient identification process.

The requirements associated with the existing Universal Protocol, initiated to prevent errors in surgical and non-invasive surgical procedures, were also improved for 2009. These changes, which address the topics of procedure verification, marking the procedure site, and conducting a “time out” immediately prior to starting procedures, were based on feedback received at the Wrong Site Surgery Summit in 2007.

The 2009 Hospital and Critical Access Hospital National Patient Safety Goals are:

• Improve the accuracy of patient identification.
• Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.
• Improve the safety of using medications.
• Reduce the risk of healthcare associated infections.
• Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care.
• Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls.
• Encourage patients’ active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy.
• The organization identifies safety risks inherent in its patient population.
• Improve recognition and response to changes in a patient’s condition.