Joint Commission on Accreditation

Accreditation Manualfor Hospitals. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, Chicago, lU., 1996. 

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 Healtheare Organizations National Association of Boards of Pharmacy National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Ine. 

Bates, D.W., Preventing Medication Errors. In Medication Use A Systems Approach to Reducing Errors (D.D. Cousins, ed.). Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, 1999, pp. 57-73. 

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. 

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. 

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). 

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. 

ENA supports the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations standards that advocate emergency management based on the stages of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. ENA supports implementing a hazard vulnerability analysis that is reviewed annually. 

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. 

Nadzam DM. A systems approach to medication use. In Cousins DM, ed. Medication use. Oakbrook Terrace, IL Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations 1998. p. 5-17. 

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