Accreditation Organizations

The most well known of the accrediting bodies, the Joint Commission, impacts the operation of most hospitals and a good number of other healthcare organizations, including nursing homes and surgery centers. The Joint Commission operates as an independent, not-for-profit organization. 

Develop a written plan to address the management of the care environment Designate persons to coordinate safety functions 

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Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation—APLAC) and Africa (Southern African Development Community in Accreditation—SADAC). Through these cooperations the importance of harmonization and conformity has been recognized. If countries adopt similar approaches to accreditation, and their accreditation organizations issue certificates with a harmonized information, it is much easier for clients to assess the validity of test results relating to cross-border trade, forensics, and health. 

While health care accreditation organizations have existed for quite a while, quality data were not readily available to the general public until recendy. These quality measurements (sometimes called report cards ) make health care quality indicators readily available to the public. This encourages health care organizations to compete on the basis of quality and creates markets where quality, not just cost containment, is rewarded (Blumenthal and Kilo, 1998 O Malley, 1997). 

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 2002b. Medicare program Approval of the Indian Health Service (IHS) as a national accreditation organization for accrediting American Indians and Alaska native entities to furnish outpatient diabetes selfmanagement training. Fed Reg 67 13345 available at www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/. 

Certain abbreviations are easily misinterpreted. Controlling dangerous abbreviations can reduce communication errors. Although many health care facilities have lists of abbreviations that are approved for use by professional staff, it would be far safer if each hospital also developed a list of abbreviations that never should be used. In fact, such a negative list is easier to maintain and enforce. In addition, The Joint Commission (TJC), has recommended that accredited organizations standardize abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols used throughout their facilities, including a list of abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols not to use. 

The Joint Commission (TJC). 2003. www.jcaho.org/ accredited + organizations/patient + safety/npsg / npsg 03.htm accessed on April 30, 2003. 

The necessary components of a complete QA/QC program include internal QC criteria that demonstrate acceptable levels of performance, as determined by a QA review (audit). External review of data and procedures is accomplished by the monitoring activities of accreditation organizations such as the Standards Council of Canada (SCC, 2005). This includes laboratory evaluation samples (PT samples, see above) and a periodic (sometimes every 2 years) on-site assessment of all QA/ QC procedures, performed by external assessors from the accrediting organization. 

Step 1 is to delineate the scope of drug use within the organization and outline what elements of the drug use process should be reviewed. A review of peer-reviewed scientific literature, relevant clinical practice guidelines, and accrediting organization requirements should be the tmderpinning for this step. Table 13.3 lists the important processes evaluated in a DUE/MUE. 

Omission errors, incorrect doses, and prescribing errors were the top three causes of medication errors reported by health systems in 2002. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) tracks sentinel events submitted to it by accredited heathcare facilities. A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Table 16.3 lisfs fhe roof causes of medication errors reported by JCAHO-accredited organizations. ... 

Accrediting organizations emphasize patient safety as a fxmdamental issue. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services includes monitoring of medication errors as part of their conditions of participation, noting that the medical staff is responsible for developing policies and procedures that minimize drug errors. This fxmction may be delegated to the hospital s... 

The JCAHO annually publishes six national patient safety goals and surveys the accredited organizations related to them. The initial six goals include several medication-related safety improvements ... 

The only thing certain about the survey process is that the methods and areas surveyed will continue to change to reflect current standards of care in order to assure quality and safety of patient care provided by accredited organizations. Pharmacists can expect that the JCAHO views them as critical members of the patient care team and integral to ensuring safe and effective... 

Industry Standard FDA (1995) Procedures or criteria recognized as acceptable practices by peer, professional, credentialing, or accrediting organizations. 

Finally, there is an accreditation process for social accountability audits under Social Accountability, Inc. This entity accredits organizations - known as certification bodies - to conduct audits, certifying workplaces as complying with SA8000. Accreditation must be earned before a firm can have its staff perform SA8000 certification audits (SAI, 2004). 

ISO certification is carried out by accredited organizations known as registrars. Registrars review the organization s quality manual and audit the process to ensure that the system documented in the manual is in place and effective. When an organization receives ISO 9000 certification,... 

The USP Chapter 797 details the procedmes and reqnirements for compounding all sterile preparations inclnding PN formnlations. These standards will apply to aU health care settings in which sterile preparations are componnded and will be nsed by boards of pharmacy, the FDA, and accreditation organizations snch as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Componnded sterile preparations (CSP) are defined by risk level (high, medinm, low) based on the probabihty of microbial, chemical, or physical contami-... 

In the Japanese accreditation scheme, either domestic or foreign bodies, which have been pre-registered with the MAFF, provide accreditation to producers, processors, re-packers and importers who are to handle accredited organic products. Those accredited inspect the would-be organic products and issue the label JAS organic and then, allow it to be sent to the market if the products meet accredited standards. Thus, the scheme traces all the processes from producers to consumers and ensures that the products be organically produced, processed, and packed. 

Construction Health and Safety Requirements by Accreditation Organizations... 

ISA is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited organization. ISA administers United States Technical Advisory Groups (USTAGs) and provides secretariat support for International Electrotechnical Commission (lEC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) committees that develop process measurement and control standards. To obtain additional information on the Society s standards program, please write ... 

MD Molecular Dynamics for Cutting Processes Theory and Application Introduction Few subjects have generated so much debate in the recent decennia as the concept uncertainty, bet- ter specified as measurement uncertainty. The need for a harmonized approach came from industry, standardization organizations, accreditation organizations, national metrology institutes, etc. 

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