Healthcare organizations

Primary stroke center certification guide. Oakbrook, IL Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations 2005. 

Blood cultures must be obtained in all patients hospitalized with pneumonia to comply with Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) pneumonia guidelines. Positive blood cultures are present in about 1 % to 20% of patients with CAP. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has incorporated pneumococcal and influenza immunization rates into some of their quality standards. Patients admitted to a hospital for community-acquired pneumonia should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines prior to discharge if not previously administered. In physicians office practice, all persons over 65 years of age who have been hospitalized in the past year should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines if not previously administered. Both of these standards will affect payment if the standard is not met. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has also incorporated these standards into their accreditation reviews of health care facilities. 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards require a nutrition screening typically within 24 to 72 hours of hospital admission. Patients determined not to be at risk for malnutrition should be reevaluated every 7 to 14 days. Patients determined to be at risk for malnutrition need a nutrition assessment and care plan. 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. 2006. Facts about the Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations available at www.jcaho.org/ aboutlUS/index.htm accessed on August 6, 2004. 

NFPA 99137 governs all health care occupancies, in conjunction with the Life Safety Code and the National Electrical Code. In fact virtually all hospitals, and the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), which regulates hospitals, use the combination mentioned earlier almost without any other consideration. 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (1999). [Electronic reference on pain management.] Retrieved September 21, 2004, from www.jcaho.org/news+room/health+care+issues/jcaho+focuses+on+pain+ management.htm. 

Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). 1995 Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. JCAHO, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, 1994. 

Healthcare Organizations, National Committee for Quality Assurance. Coordinated performance measurement for the management of adult diabetes, April 2001, http //www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/3798.html. Farmer KC. Methods for measuring and monitoring medication regimen adherence in clinical trials and clinical practice. Clin. Ther. 1999 21 1074-1090. 

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. ... 

With Medicare s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, also known as Medicare Part A, workers make required contributions to the fund while fhey are employed. Upon retirement, workers receive health care benefits. By law, employers and their employees are required to pay equal portions of a payroll tax, which totals 2.9% of earned income.In 1997, almost 90% of the trust fund s income was from payroll taxes. The remaining income was generated from fhe inferesf earned from the trust fund. A beneficiary s Medicare Parf A insurance is limifed to only those hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The JCAHO accreditation standards include explicit and extensive professional pharmacy acfivifies, indirectly supporting professional trends for clinical pracfice (see Chapfer 18). 

Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations, Mission statement, www.jcaho.org/about+us/index.htm, accessed January 13, 2004. 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations also defines a third level of crisis—a catastrophe. A catastrophe is considered a disaster in which the community and hospital are overwhelmed and isolated for 3 or more days. This is exemplified by the Sumatra tsunami in 2004 and by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 (Berger, 2006). For our purposes, this category will be considered a disaster. 

Nursing Emergency Preparedness Education Coalition (NEPEC), formerly the International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Incidents http //WWW. me. Vanderbilt, eda/nursing/coalitions/ INCMCE/overview, html Internet Disaster Information Network http //WWW. disaster, net/index. html Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations... 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (2001, December). Joint commission perspectives. Retrieved from http //www.jacho.org/standard/faq/hos.html... 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (2001a). Revised environment of care standards for the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. Joint Commission Perspectives, 21(12), suppl 2. 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires that all patients receive a pain assessment and appropriate pain-relief measures. Various pain scales are available to measure pain in preverbal and verbal children nurses should administer... 

In addition to specialty nursing accreditation bodies, the Joint Commission, formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), mandates specific areas in which health care institutions must ensure that employees are prepared. As part of the national emergency preparedness plan, JCAHO (2001) has mandated that all health care institutions be required to design and implement an emergency preparedness plan. In addition, each institution must establish an orientation and education program for staff and must conduct emergency preparedness drills at least twice a year. 

Questions often arise regarding the relationship of internal vs. external suppliers, especially within large pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations, and the corresponding role of Quality and Compliance. Expectations for these organizational stmctures are discussed below. 

Regulatory authorities only require pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations to satisfy any relevant Electronic Record and Electronic Signature (ERES) considerations such as those in the respective EU and U.S." regulations if the usage of the application has been deemed to support a GxP critical process. 

There are many other reasons why pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations are required to hold records, not just for regulatory purposes. The record-keeping requirements of local environmental, safety, or financial regulations should also be considered when determining the length of time a record is required to be held. Whatever requirement stipulates the longest retention time is the one that should be adhered to and recorded to determine the disposal criteria. 

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