Accreditation

Greeley Reflections

Accreditation Connection, October 29, 2010

Fire Evacuations in the procedural areas

Part 1 of 5

Common questions

One of the key activities in any survey—mock or the real thing—are those precious moments when surveyors “corner” a front line staff person to answer some pertinent questions. The fact of the matter is that a lot of your survey success rests in the hands of the folks at the point of care and point of service in your organization. You may have the most pristine documentation imaginable, but the folks in the trenches need to be able to articulate competencies well beyond the “just doing my job” everyday functions.

So, when a survey traces through surgical procedure-related areas such as the cardiac cath lab, endoscopy, post-anesthesia care unit, same-day surgery and the operating areas, even your emergency department, it is very likely that questions will be raised regarding the management of surgical fire risk. And I can tell you that it is most disturbing as a consultant to hear that staff in some of these areas don’t take part in fire drills because they are “in the middle of cases” when these practice exercises are conducted.

Most Popular

Related Articles