Reference no: EM133385842

A.) Healthcare is evolving daily; therefore, the standards need to evolve with them. There is nothing worse than standards that are not up-to date with correct information. That definitely leaves room for errors to occur. I loaded all of the 2023 NPSG goals, I read my sons recent operative report and saw the physician had performed one standard that is listed. Because of this I have a new respect for The Joint Commission. Do you agree? why or why not?

B.) The standards with constantly change as long as technology advances. When I began to think about it , all aspects truly go together. The new standardization would be to incorporate the patient and family in the education - technology can come into play with this. Access to apps and videos on handheld devices could make it easier to reach the healthcare professionals. Why or Why not?

C.) According to Wrzesniewski (2017), any organization that is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC) is striving to deliver the highest standard of care, they do so in providing safe and quality service to their patients. National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) involve a set of evidence-based actions taken by hospitals to reduce the risk of medical error, where they focus on patient identifiers when providing care. There are over 250 standards to address patient rights and education, infection control, life safety, medication management, leadership performance improvement, and credentialing, 

Each year TJC gather information about emerging patient safety issue from practitioners, provider organizations, purchasers, consumers groups, and other stakeholders. Based on this information, they tailor the NPSGs for each specific program (The Joint Commission, 2023). The NPSG's for 2023 involved 15 goals which are:

1.      Patient identification- to improve accuracy they are required to use at least two patent identifiers when providing care.

2.      Improve communication- reporting critical test results and diagnostics procedures in a timely matter.

3.      Medication safety- labeling all medication,

4.      Medication Safety-reducing the likelihood of patient harm associated with anticoagulant therapy,

5.      Medication Safety- maintaining and communicating accurate patient medication information.

6.      Clinical Alarm Safety by improving the safety of clinical alarm systems.

7.      Health Care Associated Infections by complying with current Center for Diseases Control (CDC) and Prevention hand hygiene or current World Health Organization (WHO) hand guidelines.

8.      Reduce Falls- by reducing patient harm resulting from falls.

9.      Pressure Ulcer prevention- through assessing and periodically reassessing patient risk for developing a pressure ulcer and taking action to address any identified risks.

10.  Risk Assessment- identifying safety risks inherent in its patient population.

11.  Risk Assessment- reduce risk for suicide.

12.  Risk assessment- through identifying risks associated with home oxygen therapy, such as home fires.

13.  Universal protocol for preventing wrong site by marking the procedure site.

14.  Universal protocol for wrong procedure by performing a time-out before the procedure.

15.   Universal wrong person surgery by conducting a preprocedural verification process.

The goal of NPSGs standard is to have a positive effect on health outcomes. Do you agree? why or why not?

D.) The Joint Commission has the National Patient Safety Goals or NPSGs updated annually. These goals are identified to help make improvements in the patient's safety as that is their top priority. "The process and development is overseen by a panel of safety experts that includes nurses, physicians, pharmacists, risk managers, and others who are recognized in their respective fields as experts on patient safety issues." (Watson, 2009) Some goals are continued as the years go by and others might be replaced because of emerging priorities in safety. Currently the goals that are set in place are identifying patients correctly, improving staff communication, using medication safely, using alarms safely, preventing infection, identifying patient safety risks, and preventing mistakes in surgery.

To identify the patients correctly they plan to use at least two ways to identify the patient, using their name or date of birth. This is to ensure that they have the right patient when prescribing medication or performing procedures. Improving staff communication involves making sure that they get what they need when they need it such as tests or equipment. Medications usage needs to be monitored better by labeling unlabeled medications, like syringes, and good record keeping of a patient's medication. Alarms on equipment such as cardiac monitors should up to standards and loud enough to be heard so the staff can respond in time. "The risk of patient harm increases when alarms aren't man-aged properly." (Mascioli & Carrico, 2016) Preventing infection can be done by following CDCs guidelines of cleaning hands, equipment, and surfaces. Being more observant can help identify if a patients safety is at risk from the treatment or from themselves. To prevent surgery mistakes, they need to make sure that the patient is the correct one having the surgery and that their body is marked in the correct spot that the surgery is taking place.

I believe the overall focus of the goals has been to improve patient safety and quality in their care and that hasn't changed as the years went by. The goals have changed due to what was more of a pressing matter at the time and needed to be fixed. This is why the goals are changed annually for when there is a bigger problem that needs to be taken care of to ensure the patients safety. They are all important goals but when one becomes a more serious issue than another, a solution needs to be found quick for that issue. Do you agree? why or why not?