Accreditation

Greeley Reflections

Accreditation Connection, October 19, 2009

Taking a quick look at the NPSG updates

Part 1 of 4

The release of the 2010 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) rolled back some of the difficult and unclear expectations introduced last year about this time: requirements such as documenting hand hygiene education to all patients, even outpatients, are now gone…effective immediately.

We’re still waiting for the other shoe (or shoes) to drop. We’re expecting revised FAQs (hopefully soon) and we would love to see the actual language of the goals that were moved to standards September 9.

Many of the troublesome requirements introduced last year are gone. Designation of an individual to participate in the identification process on behalf of the patient has been removed (NPSG.01.01.01).

Documentation of patient education about hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, and other issues at the time of admission is no longer required (NPSG.13.01.01). (However, common sense requirements about patient/family education remain in various locations throughout the standards.)

The immediate “pre-transfer” checklist process has been removed from the Universal Protocol (UP.01.01.01). It has been replaced by language that allows the continued use of separate pre-procedure forms by the preoperative nurse and the circulator as the patient progresses toward the procedure.

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