Question

The nursing students are discussing patient safety during a clinical experience. The clinical instructor mentions that the hospital is interested in addressing The Joint Commission’s patient safety goals are associated with the use of health information technology (Learning Objective: 6).

Which Joint Commission safety goals are directly related to health information technology?

How can a group of nursing students impact the recommendations concerning alarm safety cited by the Joint Commission?

Answer 1

Answer: The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit group in the United States that administers voluntary accreditation programs for hospitals and other healthcare organizations. The goals are a series of specific actions that accredited organizations are required to take in order to prevent medical errors such as miscommunication among caregivers, unsafe use of infusion pumps, and medication mix-ups.

The organisation keeps the transparency raised in the organization, which promotes a culture of safety and also conveys the message to the public that it is doing everything possible, proactively, to prevent similar patient safety events in the future. The Joint Commission has a longstanding commitment to providing meaningful information about the performance of accredited organizations to the public.

The Joint Commission receives reports of patient safety events from patients, their families, government agencies, the public, staff employed by organizations, and the media. This information is used to help improve the quality and safety of accredited and certified organizations.