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Articles Tagged With: standards

  • Joint Commission: If You Create Infection Control Policy, Make Sure You Follow It

    If infection preventionists adopt or write up an infection control policy — even if it goes beyond existing recommendations and requirements — The Joint Commission will cite or “score” them if the hospital is not following it. Do not put in word what you will not follow in deed, said Sylvia Garcia-Houchins, MBA, RN, CIC, director of infection prevention and control at The Joint Commission.

  • Joint Commission Surveys in the Time of COVID-19

    How far is The Joint Commission behind on healthcare accreditation surveys? By the end of June 2022, they expect to be caught up with scheduled inspections — for 2021. However, the accrediting body for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is gamely moving forward, using virtual technology for some facilities, and conducting on-site inspections at hospitals.

  • Clinicians’ Confusion over Brain Death Criteria Persists

    There are inconsistencies between standards and institutional protocols and clinical practice. Inconsistencies can erode clinician and public trust in the determination of death by neurologic criteria. Inconsistencies also can cause false-positive determinations in which a patient is incorrectly determined to be dead. Ethicists should advocate for ensuring clinicians involved in the determination of death by neurologic criteria are equipped with appropriate expertise.

  • Bioethics Field Lacks Standardized Competencies for Trainees

    The hope is that training programs will find a way to evaluate not only trainees’ progress, but also the adequacy of their programs in training people to work in the field of bioethics.

  • TJC Updates Workplace Violence Prevention Standards

    As of Jan. 1, 2022, accredited facilities must educate, train, monitor, and assess more often.
  • What Is an Emergency Temporary Standard?

    According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), “OSHA is authorized to set emergency temporary standards that take effect immediately and are in effect until superseded by a permanent standard."

  • Study Suggests Perianesthesia Nursing Can Be Standardized Globally

    A survey about education and the role of postanesthesia care unit nurses in 11 countries revealed a wide variation in how the profession was viewed and treated. There was little international standardization in education and professional guidelines.

  • The Joint Commission Sets Specific Ethical Expectations

    Leadership is expected to establish an ethical framework on which all operations, policies, procedures, and services are based, and in a manner that supports the delivery of safe, quality care, treatment, and services.

  • Court of Appeals Reverses Doctor’s Trial Court Win in Botched Spinal Surgery Case

    Although the plaintiff’s expert provided some controversial comments on the standard of care, it is likely that, if given his well-established expertise, a proper analysis and explanation of his testimony will, at the very least, increase the plaintiff’s odds of obtaining a favorable verdict. There always is a standard of care, especially for relatively common procedures. The standard may not exist in written form. Instead, it is considered to be what a reasonable physician would do in similar circumstances within the same community.

  • With Political Change, OSHA Infectious Disease Standard Appears Back in Play

    In acknowledged underestimates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports tens of thousands of healthcare workers have acquired COVID-19 and hundreds have died. With CDC guidelines nonregulatory, politicized, and too often ignored during the pandemic, the question arises: Could an enforceable infectious disease standard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have saved lives during the pandemic?