Universal protocol to become more 'prescriptive'
Universal protocol to become more 'prescriptive'
The Joint Commission will soon be releasing a revised version of the universal protocol, reports Peter Angood, MD, vice president and chief patient safety officer for The Joint Commission. "Last year we had a follow-up summit to discuss the universal protocol," he shares. "We revised it, and we are just in the final stages of the approval process; we will be releasing it later this spring."
As with many of The Joint Commission guidelines and standards, the current version of the universal protocol avoids being too prescriptive. For example, when it comes to the pre-operative verification process, it states as follows:
"An ongoing process of information gathering and verification, beginning with the determination to do the procedure, continuing through all settings and interventions involved in the preoperative preparation of the patient, up to and including the 'time out' just before the start of the procedure."
"The three main steps — verification of the procedure, marking the site, and the time out — are still the essence of the protocol," says Angood. "But each will have more detail and are a little more prescriptive, so for example they will have steps the providers should be following in each of these components."
The Joint Commission is aware of the need to maintain a certain balance, he continues. "We want organizations to take steps on their own accord without our being too prescriptive, but we had 60 different organizations and societies [providing feedback] and everyone agreed we needed to be more prescriptive," Angood notes.
The Joint Commission will soon be releasing a revised version of the universal protocol, reports Peter Angood, MD, vice president and chief patient safety officer for The Joint Commission.Subscribe Now for Access
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